yPltELATE    AND    PASTOR- 


OR, 


EPISCOPALIANISM 


SWEDEN  BO RGIAN  ISM. 


•Y 

BISHOP    BURGESS 

AND  \\ 

B.   K.   BARRETT. 


PHILADELPHIA 

J.    B.    LIPPINCOTT   &   CO. 

1872. 


NOTE. 

In  my  little  work  on  "Episcopalianism"  there  occur  ex- 
pressions which  must  needs  sound  harsh  to  those  who  have  not 
seen  the  Bishop" s  pamphlet.  But  when  it  is  knmvn  that  these 
expressions  were  copied  verbatim  from  hit  "  Swedenborg- 
ianism"  and  for  reasons  which  the  reader  will  readily  un- 
derstand and  appreciate,  the  aspect  of  the  case  is  someivhal 
i  hanged. 

I  have  been  informed  by  friends  on  whose  judgment  I  rely, 
that  the  effect  of  my  little  book  is  uniformly  happy  when  the 
Bishop' s  pamphlet  is  read  in  eonnection  with  it ;  and  have 
been  urged,  therefore,  to  have  the  two  works  bound  together. 
One  intelligent  brother  writes  : 

"  ll'e  have  here  several  copies  of  your  reply  to  Bishop 
Burgess,  which  are  circulating  among  Episcopalians,  and 
are  doing  good.  Some,  hwever,  think  your  book  rather 
harsh,  except  when  read  along  with  the  Bishop's  attack.  In 
such  cases,  the  effect  produced  is  excellent  ;  but  when  your 
book  is  read  by  itself  the  effect  is  not  so  good.  By  all  means 
have  the  attack  added" 

It  is  letters  of  this  character  which  have  induced  me  to 
order  the  present  edition,  with  the  Bishop's  pamphlet  prefixed. 
In  "Prelate  and  Pastor"  therefore,  the  reader  has  both 
sides,  and  is  left  to  form  his  own  conclusion. 

B.  F.  B. 
WEST  PHILADELPHIA,  April  9,  1872. 


SWEDENBORGIANISM 


BT   THE   LATE 


BISHOP    BURGESS 


PROTESTAXT  EPISCOPAL  SOCIETY  FOB  THE  PROMOTION 
(XT  KV  ANGELICAL  KNOWLEDGE. 

No.   2,  BXBLB  HOUBB,  NEW  You*. 


SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


EVERY  Priest  or  Presbyter  of  our  Church, 
at  his  ordination,  was  asked,  "  Will  you  be 
ready  with  all  faithfid  diligence,  to  banish 
and  drive  away  from  the  Church  all  erro- 
neous and  strange  doctrines,  contrary  to 
God's  Word?"  and  every  one  answered,  "I 
will,  the  Lord  being  my  helper."  This  very 
necessary  task  is  to  be  discharged,  not  by 
force  or  fraud,  even  if  that  were  possible, 
but  by  argument  and  persuasion,  public  and 
private,  and,  if  need  be,  by  rebuke,  denuncia- 
tion of  the  error,  and  exclusion  from  the 
Lord's  Table.  Every  Bishop  has  given  at 

his  consecration  the  same  promise  a  second 

(3) 


4  Swedenborgianism. 

time,  in  almost  the  same  words.  Those  who 
have  placed  themselves  under  these  most 
sacred  obligations  cannot  doubt  their  general 
duty,  to  expose  the  falsehood  of  any  doctrine 
by  which  any  of  their  charge  may  be  liable 
to  be  at  all  endangered,  and  to  warn  them 
against  the  snare  all  the  more,  if  they  do 
not  perceive  it  to  be  a  snare. 

But  it  is  at  this  very  point  where  real  dan- 
ger begins,  that  some  plausible  maxims  are 
encountered,  which  have  not  been  without 
their  weight  in  the  minds  even  of  Christians, 
who  loved  both  the  truth  and  peace.  It  is 
thus  said  that  an  opinion,  true  or  false,  only 
gains  strength  and  spreads  the  more  when 
it  is  openly  opposed.  Be  silent,  it  is  said, 
and  it  will  either  die  away  or  cease  to  extend 
itself  beyond  its  present  limits.  It  is  per- 
fectly plain,  however,  that  reasoning  like 


Swedenborgianism . 


this  is  exactly  that  which  may  be  employed 
in  the  case  of  any  disease  which  has  in- 
creased till  it  became  alarming  or  fatal. 
Did  you  employ  medical  treatment  ?  You 
may  be  told  that  the  treatment  caused  the 
mischief.  Did  you  employ  no  medical 
treatment?  You  may  certainly  be  told, 
with  a  much  greater  appearance  of  justice, 
that  the  mischief  proceeded  from  your  neg- 
lect. I  suppose,  however,  that  no  father, 
solicitous  for  the  threatened  life  of  a  sick 
child,  would  be  as  much  disturbed  by  the 
fear  that,  through  timely  attention  to  the 
complaint,  ho  might  have  unintentionally 
pushed  it  on,  as  by  the  dread  that  he  might 
have  neglected  it  too  long.  In  the  same 
manner  when  an  error  grows  up  and  lives 
on,  it  is  easy  to  say,  either  that  it  is  because 
it  was  opposed,  or  because  it  was  not  op- 


Swedenborgia  n  ism. 


posed,  by  the  clergy.  They  who  merely 
reason  from  the  result  are  always  liable  to 
mistake  the  way  of  duty.  There  cannot  bo 
the  smallest  doubt  that  it  is  right  to  guard 
those  whom  we  love,  those  for  whom  we  are 
in  any  degree  responsible,  against  every 
serious  danger  which  we  can  foresee ;  and 
this  duty  is  not  at  all  affected  by  the  result. 
The  natural,  obvious,  and  divinely  appointed 
way  of  checking  the  progress  of  error,  is,  to 
detect,  expose,  and  refute  it  by  scriptural 
argument  and  warning.  If  at  any  time  it 
should  spread  in  defiance  of  such  efforts,  we 
may  be  sure  that  without  them  it  would 
have  spread  more  rapidly  and  more  disas- 
trously. 

There  is  another  objection  which  comes 
home  to  our  kindlier  feelings.  While  the 
error  was  at  a  distance,  to  contend  earnestly 


Suvedenborgianism.  7 

against  it  was  inoffensive,  but  was  also  quite 
useless.  To  argue  against  the  Mormon 
doctrine  wounds  no  one,  but  is  of  no  profit 
But  when  the  error  approaches  and  sits 
down  amongst  us,  it  necessarily  happens 
that  those  on  whom  it  lays  its  grasp  arc  our 
friends  and  neighbors.  We  love  them,  we 
respect  them  ;  we  wish  to  live  in  union  and 
concord  ;  we  are  not  blind  to  their  various 
merits;  and  we  are  all  bound  together  by 
mutual  kindnesses.  It  is  not  possible  seri- 
ously to  assail  the  opinions  of  any  without 
danger  of  giving  pain ;  and  certainly  it  is 
not  expedient  to  condemn  them,  except 
when  it  is  to  be  done  with  great  seriousness. 
Whatever  mode  ma}'  be  adopted,  reproof 
and  censure  can  never  be  made  pleasing. 
Are  we  then  to  forbear  ?  Woe  to  us  if  wo 
prove  fa  it  hlr>s  to  our  duty  for  such  a  cause ; 


8  Swedenborgianism. 


if  we  permit  those  whom  we  love  to  pass 
unwarned  into  danger  and  delusion ! 

I  am  about,  therefore,  to  speak  of  the  de- 
lusion which  derives  its  name  and  origin 
from  the  writings  of  Swedenborg;  and  to 
speak  of  it  for  the  very  reason  that  it  is 
here  ;  that  it  has  a  foothold  in  our  commu- 
nity ;  and  that  whatever  powers  of  persua- 
sion it  may  possess  are  exercised  to  beguile 
the  uninstructed  and  the  unstable.  For  the 
personal  character  of  several  of  those  by 
whom  this  doctrine  is  professed  I  entertain 
a  very  high  degree  of  respect ;  there  is  none 
of  them,  so  far  as  I  know,  from  whom  I  ever 
received  any  unkindness ;  and  I  could  wish 
not  to  inflict  the  smallest  pain  by  any  words 
which  the  truth  may  require  to  be  uttered. 
At  the  same  time,  there  is  no  room  in  sub- 
jects like  these  for  any  great  influence  of 


Smedenborgia  n  ism . 


personal  considerations.  If  that  which  is 
termed,  but  never  ought  to  be  termed,  "  the 
New  Church,"  if  the  Church  of  Swedeuborg 
be  right,  the  old  Church,  the  Holy  Catholic 
Church,  the  Church  of  Christ,  is  grossly 
wrong. 

The  whole  Church  of  Christ,  in  all  its 
branches  and  denominations,  is  constantly 
assailed  by  those  who  believe  in  the  dpc- 
trincs  of  Swedenborg,  as  if  it  were  wholly  in 
darkness,  blind  to  the  truth,  and  engaged  in 
teaching  mighty  and  mischievous  corrup- 
tions. We  are  not  called  to  retaliate,  except 
as,  from  the  nature  of  things,  that  which 
thus  opposes  the  Church  must  be  opposite 
to  the  truth,  and  necessarily  worthy  of  con- 
demnation. But  it  is  not  the  province  of 
( 'In  istianity  to  defend  its  own  cause  so  much 
as  to  attack  and  overthrow,  by  the  arms  of 


TO  Swedenborgianism. 


truth,  all  which  is  hostile  to  the  declared  will 
of  God  our  Saviour.  We  must  refuse  to 
stand  on  the  defensive ;  we  must  push  error 
back  upon  its  own  ground ;  break  down  its 
fastnesses,  if  it  has  any  ;  expose  its  hiding 
places ;  disclose  it  as  it  is ;  and  if  it  be  possi- 
ble, leave  it  no  disguise  through  which  an 
honest  heart  can  be  deceived.  We  would 
destroy  the  error,  that  we  may  rescue  the 
erring. 

I  offer  no  apology,  then,  for  doing  that 
which  is  my  duty ;  for  attempting  to  show 
what  Swedenborgianism  attempts  to  be; 
what  delusions  it  embraces ;  and,  beyond 
these  delusions,  how  it  contradicts  the  word 
of  God.  Let  us  only  pray  that  all  may  be 
done  with  that  temper  which  the  Holy 
Ghost  sheds  abroad  in  the  heart,  and  that 


Swedenborgianism.  1 1 


we  all  may  be  enlightened  by  the  truth  as  it 
is  in  Jesus ! 

Swedenborgianism  is  the  name  which 
should  be  carefully  given  to  the  doctrinal 
and  ecclesiastical  system  of  the  followers  of 
Swedenborg.  There  is  but  one  Church  of 
('In  1st;  it  embraces  all  who  have  received 
Christian  baptism  and  hold  the  Christian 
faith  ;  there  can  be  no  "New  Church"  in  the 
sense  in  which  that  designation  is  claimed  ; 
as  if  the  ancient  and  only  Church  of  Christ 
had  been  superseded.  The  title  of  "  the 
Church  of  the  New  Jerusalem,"  it  would  be 
blasphemous  to  give,  if  we  did  it  deliberately, 
to  a  body  which  we  believe  to  be  of  mere 
human  institution,  and  to  be  founded  in  the 
\\  i  K  lost  perversions  of  the  Scriptures.  If  any 
man  can  suppose  the  Swedenborgian  sect  to 
be  the  New  Jerusalem  of  the  Revelation,  he 


12  Swedenborgianism. 


of  course  can  give  them  that  name  with  a 
good  conscience ;  but  with  the  holiest,  heav- 
enliest  words,  the  rest  of  mankind  should 
not  dare  to  trifle. 

Swedenborgianism  is  simply  the  system  of 
belief  and  practice  taught  by  Emanuel 
Swedenborg.  He  was  a  Swedish  nobleman, 
a  man  of  scientific  knowledge,  and  volumi- 
nous writer,  much  engaged  in  speculations 
on  the  nature  of  the  soul.  When  he  was 
fifty-seven  years  old,  which  was  in  the  year 
1745,  he  conceived  that  he  had  intercourse 
with  the  world  of  spirits;  and  the  various 
thoughts  on  certain  subjects  which  thence- 
forth arose  in  his  mind,  (and  he  was  a  pro- 
digious dreamer,)  he  seems  honestly  to  have 
taken  for  revelations.  He  lived  till  the  age 
of  eighty-four,  and  continued,  in  his  eccen- 
tric way,  to  write  on  till  his  books  were 


Swedenborgia  n  ism .  1 3 


twenty-seven  heavy  and  exceedingly  tedious 
volumes,  in  striking  contrast  with  the 
variety,  sublimity  and  beauty  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures.  He  did  not  attempt  to  found 
a  sect,  or  to  make  many  proselytes ;  he  did 
not  pretend  to  work  miracles,  nor  to  pro- 
1'lu-^y,  be}-ond  a  few  slight  instances  of  sup- 
posed  disclosures  of  things  which  he  could 
not  know  through  the  senses;  instances, 
which,  if  tnie,  were  similar  to  clairvoyance, 
and  to  which  he  attached  little  importance. 
Such  was  the  man,  grave,  moral,  learned ; 
not  eminently  wise  or  gifted,  or,  so  far  as 
we  know,  eminently  devout  and  holy;  a 
speculative  enthusiast,  a  monomaniac,  a 
man  whom  his  contemporaries  regarded  as 
of  doubtful  sanity.  A  few  persons  believed 
his  revelations  while  he  lived ;  a  few  have 
embraced  them  since ;  and  although  at  first 


14  Swedenborgianism. 


it  seems  to  have  been  no  part  of  their  design, 
they  have  been  compelled  by  consistency  to 
separate  themselves  from  the  Christian 
Church,  and  form  a  new  communion.  It  is 
very  small ;  embracing  at  the  end  of  a  cen- 
tury from  the  time  of  Swedenborg,  in  the 
United  States  only  thirty  ministers  and 
about  three  thousand  members;  and  in 
Great  Britain  perhaps  as  many  more. 

Whatever  parts  of  Christian  truth  may  be 
maintained  by  this  communion  just  as  by  all 
Christians,  cannot,  of  course,  be  considered 
as  bearing  the  name  of  Swedenborgianism. 
Whatever  just  thoughts  or  correct  views  may 
be  entertained  by  them,  which  it  needed  no 
prophet  to  discover,  are  the  common  pro- 
perty of  all  men.  They  stand  as  a  sect  or 
communion,  through  their  adherence  to 
Swedenborg  as  the  medium  of  divine  revela- 


Swedenborgianism.  1 5 


tions.  Here  lies,  my  brethren,  a  peculiar 
danger  of  that  system ;  one  which  may  make 
us  contemplate  it  with  more  pain  and  dread 
than  some  which  contain  less  of  truth,  or 
which  teach  doctrines  more  remote  from  the 
gospel.  All  sects  which  name  themselves 
Christian,  and  nothing  more,  appeal  only  to 
the  Scriptures,  to  human  reason,  and  to  the 
belief  of  the  Church  from  the  beginning- 
none  of  them  claim  any  new  inspiration.  A 
person  may  misinterpret  the  Scriptures,  and 
may  be  brought  to  a  more  correct  interpre- 
tation. A  person  may  reason  wrong,  and 
may  learn  to  reason  right.  A  person  may 
mistake  the  tradition  of  the  Church,  or  ho 
may  attribute  to  it  less  or  more  authority 
than  it  deserves;  he  may  even  submit  to 
such  a  control  as  that  of  the  Papacy,  and 
yet  may  shake  this  off,  and  come  to  the 


1 6  Sivedenborgianism. 


simple  truth  through  the  mere  force  of  that 
truth  as  drawn  from  the  Scriptures,  or 
from  light  reason,  or  from  the  Church  of 
primitive  times ;  for  his  very  submission  to 
the  Papacy  was  sustained  by  arguments 
from  those  sources,  however  erroneously 
applied.  But  the  Swedenborgian  errs,  not 
because  he  reads  the  Scriptures  otherwise 
than  rightly ;  not  because  he  reasons  ill ; 
not  because  he  has  any  regard  for  the  au- 
thority of  the  Church ;  but  because  he  sets 
Scripture,  reason  and  the  Church  all  aside, 
and  yields  up  his  whole  soul  submissively 
to  the  authority  of  one  blind  man. 

I  do  not  think  that  I  go  too  far  in  saying 
that,  as  a  teacher  and  an  authority,  Swe- 
de nborg  is  placed  above  all  the  apostles 
and  prophets,  and  even  above  our  blessed 
Saviour.  He  professes  to  reveal  much  more 


Swedenborgia  n  ism.  1 7 


than  our  Saviour  revealed.  He  claims  to 
make  the  words  of  oar  Saviour  mean  what 
they  do  not  obviously  mean,  what  they  ob- 
viously do  not  mean,  and  what  no  man  be- 
fore him  ever  dreamed  to  be  their  meaning. 
Ho  says  that  our  Saviour  did  not  mean 
what  our  Saviour  knew  every  human  being, 
from  the  very  constitution  of  his  nature, 
must  understand  Him  to  mean.  He  sub- 
stitutes a  new  Church  for  that  which  our  Sa- 
viour established.  I  do  not  at  all  design  to 
say  that  either  Swedeuborg  or  his  followers 
ever  intended  to  lower  the  reverence  of  men 
for  the  Redeemer,  or  to  compare  him  with 
any  mortal.  But  so  far  as  our  Lord  is  a 
guide  and  a  law-giver,  they  do  certainly 
place  the  word  of  Swedenborg  in  the  place 
of  the  word  of  Christ 

Thus,  my  dear  brethren,   you  perceive 
2 


1 8  Swedenborgianism. 


that  Swedenborgianism  attempts  to  be,  not 
a  form  of  Christian  it}',  but  an  addition  to 
Christianity,  and  a  substitution  for  Christi- 
anity. The  Bible,  interpreted  by  common 
sense,  by  reason,  by  the  Church,  or  by 
individual  conscience,  is  not  its  rule  ;  but  a 
certain  part  of  the  Bible,  interpreted  by 
Swedenborg,  and  interpreted  in  a  manner 
so  utterly  his  own,  so  wild,  so  destitute  of 
all  support,  that  no  person  can  for  a  moment 
credit  the  interpretation,  except  because  he 
looks  on  the  interpreter  as  far  more  en- 
lightened than  any  apostle.  It  assumes  to 
be,  to  this  extent,  a  new  religion,  having  a 
new  author. 

Such  being  the  work  undertaken  by 
Swedenborgianism,  we  will  next  allude  to 
the  delusions,  which  on  such  authority,  it 
holds  and  promulgates  as  truth  divine. 


Swedenborgianism.  1 9 


Under  this  head  I  do  not  mention  thtxt 
which  is  directly  contradictory  to  the  word 
of  God,  but  only  that  which  the  judgment 
of  all  mankind,  except  those  who  believe  it, 
pronounces  to  be  as  little  credible  as  the 
dreams  of  insanity.  Of  this  order  are  the 

m 

following  statements,  all  taken  from  the 
writings  of  Swedenborg,  where  they  are 
given  as  the  account  of  the  results  of  his 
own  visits  to  the  invisible  world,  or  of  his 
conferences  with  higher  spirits. 

That  he  was  admitted  into  heaven  and 
hell.  That  all  the  angels  and  devils 
were  originally  men  of  the  human  race. 
That  those  who  have  deviated  from  the 
Swedenborgion  view  of  the  Trinity,  to  either 
side,  cannot  be  admitted  into  heaven.  That 
those  in  the  Church  who  have  denied  the 
Lord,  and  acknowledged  only  the  Father, 


2O  Swedenborgianism. 


are  in  the  other  world  "  deprived  of  the  fa- 
culty of  thinking  what  is  true,"  "  become 
dumb  or  speak  foolishly,"  "  miss  their  way," 
and  "their  arms  hang  down  and  dangle 
about  as  if  destitute  of  strength  in  the 
joints."  That  Unitarians  or  Socinians  are 
there  "  carried  forward  a  little  towards  the 
right,"  and  sent  down  into  the  deep.  That 
heaven  corresponds  in  form  and  divisions 
with  one  enormous  man.  That  the  Lord 
appeai-s  in  heaven  as  a  sun  and  as  a  moon. 
That  "  in  heaven  it  is  never  permitted  to 
any  one  to  stand  behind  another  and  look 
at  the  back  of  his  head." 

That  different  orders  of  angels  wore  gar- 
ments more  or  less  shining,  "  but  the  angels 
of  the  inmost  heaven  are  naked."  That 
there  are  in  heaven  houses,  gardens,  temples 
ami  pulpits ;  and  "  if  any  one  stand  behind 


Swedcnborgia  n  ism .  2 1 


the  pulpit,  the  preacher  is  confused."  That 
there  being  two  classes  of  angels,  the  celes- 
tial and  the  spiritual,  "the  speech  of  the 
former  sounds  much  from  the  vowels  o  and 
«,  that  of  the  latter  from  e  and  t.  That  the 
influx  of  the  Lord  himself  into  man  is  into 
his  forehead  and  face ;  that  of  the  celestial 
angels  into  one  part  of  the  brain,  that  of  the 
spiritual  angels  into  another.  That  anxiety 
and  melancholy  in  man  are  caused  by  cer- 
tain spirits  who  take  their  place  in  the  region 
of  the  stomach,  "  and  love  things  undigested 
and  malignant,  such  as  unwholesome  food." 
That  the  heathen  "  come  into  heaven  more 
easily  than  Christians  at  this  day."  That 
infants,  as  soon  as  they  die,  are  delivered  to 
"angels  of  the  female  sex,"  and  taught  to 
speak.  That  from  the  world  of  spirits,  into 
which  immediately  after  death,  men  go,  and 


22  Swedenborgianism. 


which  is  between  heaven  and  hell,  there  are 
holes  or  caverns  leading  down  the  abyss, 
and  from  these  "are  exhaled  nauseous 
stenches,"  which  the  wicked  seek  with  de- 
light. That  "  some  who  die,  when  they  lie 
upon  the  bier,  think  even  in  their  cold 
body." 

That  Swedenborg  himself,  while  in  this 
life,  had  experienced  the  whole  passage  from 
this  life  into  another,  that  he  might  fully 
know  how  it  is  when  men  die.  That  the 
process  of  revival  in  another  life  begins  with 
the  act  of  angels,  who  "  seem  as  it  were  to 
roll  off  the  coat  of  the  left  eye  "  towards  the 
nose,  that  the  eye  may  see.  That  after  death 
men  who  have  loved  falsehood,  repair  to  such 
places  as  clefts  of  rocks ;  conspirators  to  dark 
rooms  and  corners ;  men  proud  of  science  to 
sandy  places;  men  who  studied  doctrines, 


Swedenborgia  n  ism.  2  3 


but  did  not  live  by  them,  to  heaps  of  stones ; 
avaricious  persons  to  cells  where  "  swinish 
filth "  is  found ;  voluptuaries  to  places  full 
of  nncleanness ;  adulterers  to  brothels,  and 
revengeful  persons  to  places  full  of  dead 
corpses.  That  all  these  choose  such  abodes, 
and  have  there  their  gratification.  That 
Swedenborg  saw  the  great  Luther  in  the 
world  of  spirits,  not  yet  admitted  to  heaven ; 
informed  him  of  the  end  of  the  old  church, 
and  the  substitution  of  the  new ;  and  led 
him  over  by  degrees  to  this  belief,  though 
at  first  "he  became  very  indignant  and 
stormed."  That  he  saw  the  pious  Melanc- 
thou  in  a  cold,  filthy  stone  chamber,  wrapped 
up  in  a  bear  skin.  That  he  attempted  in 
vain  to  convert  the  pious  Calvin,  who  finally 
went  to  a  cavern  under  ground,  with  other 
Predestinarians,  "  where  they  are  forced  to 


24  Swedenborgianism. 

work  for  their  food,  and  are  all  enemies  to 
one  another."     That  the  pious  and  zealous 
Moravians  could  not  abide  in  heaven,  but 
cast  themselves  out  headlong.     That    the 
planet  Saturn  is  the  most  distant  from  the 
sun.     That  men  before    the    fall  did  not 
breathe  with  their  lungs.     That  various  dis- 
eases with  which  Swedenborg  was  afflicted, 
even  such  as  the  toothache,  proceeded  not 
from  natural  causes,  but  from  the  influx  of 
evil  spirits.     That  in  hell  there   are  such 
punishments  as  bruising  a  sinner  in  a  mor- 
tar, or  grinding  him  in  a  mill,  his  fellow-sin- 
ners   being    the    executioners.       That     in 
heaven  the  plays  of  boys  and  little  children 
are  a  part  of  the  celestial  festivities ;  and 
that  all  things  earthly  are  repeated  there ; 
houses,  chambers,  gardens,  libraries,  books, 
papers,    colleges,    museums,    all    mechanic 


Swedenborgia  n  ism.  2  5 


arts,  feasts,  food,  and  wine.  That  in  hell 
Swedeuborg  saw  two  of  the  Popes,  one  hold- 
ing his  feet  in  a  basket  full  of  serpents,  and 
the  other  sitting  upon  an  ass  which  was  on 
fire  with  red  serpents  creeping  at  its  sides. 
That  he  saw  David,  the  man  after  God's 
own  heart,  amongst  wicked  spirits,  himself 
engaged  in  most  horrid  and  shocking  con- 
duct. That  the  inhabitants  of  the  planet 
Mercury  are  intellectual,  but  haughty  and 
excessively  loquacious,  and  choose  rather  the 
form  of  crystalline  globes  than  that  of  men ; 
that  those  of  Jupiter  live  in  low  wooden 
houses,  sit  cross-legged,  are  devoted  to  the 
doctrines  of  the  Swedenborgian  Church, 
and  have  been  sometimes  vexed  with  popish 
emissaries ;  that  those  of  Mars  have  yellow 
foreheads  and  black  chins,  and  wear  clothes 
made  of  bark ;  that  those  of  Saturn  do  not 


26  Swedenborgianism. 


bury  their  dead,  but  cover  them  with  boughs 
of  trees.  That  some  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Venus  are  giants,  while  those  of  the  moon 
are  as  small  as  children,  and  speak,  not 
from  the  lungs,  but  from  the  abdomen,  with 
a  voice  like  thunder. 

Why  do  we  repeat  these  preposterous 
tales  ?  Only  that  the  true  character  of  the 
delusion  naay  appear,  which  must  be  re- 
ceived by  any  who  admit  the  revelations  of 
Swedenborg.  You  may  possibly  be  told, 
however,  that  there  is  no  obligation  to  re- 
ceive them  ;  that  he  sometimes  erred ;  that 
the  system  does  not  rest  on  his  authority, 
but  commends  itself  by  its  own  harmony 
and  beauty.  On  that  supposition  it  stands 
on  the  same  level  with  all  speculations ;  and 
this  is  a  day  in  which  many  speculations 
am  sent  forth  more  inviting  than  these  ;  and 


Swedenborgianism.  27 


we  must  be  free  to  say  that  neither  the  sys- 
tem nor  its  author  display  any  such  superior 
wisdom  as  should  entitle  it  to  a  preference 
above  speculations  which  our  own  minds  are 
quite  competent  to  originate  in  our  idlest 
moments.  But  no;  when  the  notion  that 
Swedenborg  saw  heaven  and  hell  is  removed, 
the  whole  fabric  sinks  into  dust  and  confu- 
sion ;  and  whoever  believes  that  he  did  seo 
heaven  and  hell,  must  receive  his  statements 
of  all  which  he  saw  there,  down  to  the  most 
grotesque  and  enormous  of  his  reveries.  If 
there  be  any  who,  taking  the  name  of  a 
"  New  Church,"  would  arrange  its  doctrines 
and  its  practice,  without  even  the  guidance 
of  Swedenborg,  simply  by  their  own  judg- 
ment and  fancy,  and  in  entire  freedom  from 
the  authority  of  the  old  Church  and  the 


?8  Swedenborg  ianism. 


Bible,  wherein  is  that  better  than  simple 
Deism  ? 

But  now  let  us  advance  to  a  higher  charge 
than  that  of  delusion,  however  vast.  The 
doctrines  of  Swedenborg  are  not  only  ab- 
surd, but  directly  contradictory  to  the  word 
of  God.  They  are  so,  in  the  broadest  mode, 
by  asserting  that  the  language  of  the  Scrip- 
tures has  not  its  plain,  natural,  and  obvious 
meaning,  but  a  hidden  sense,  which  no  one 
but  Swedenborg  ever  could  interpret;  a 
sense  which  may  put  upon  them  any  mean- 
ing at  his  pleasure,  however  foreign  to  their 
import ;  a  sense  which  often  is  directly  in 
the  face  of  their  very  language.  Our  Lord, 
for  example,  has  said  that  it  is  easier  for  a 
camel  to  go  through  the  eye  of  a  needle 
than  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  into  the  king- 
dom of  God ;  and  rich  men,  from  the  time 


Swedenborgianism.  29 


when  our  Lord  spoke,  have  remembered 
His  words  with  move  or  less  profit ;  but 
Swedenborg  says  that  "  by  a  camel  is  signi 
fied  the  principle  of  knowledge  and  of  sci 
ence  in  general,  and  by  the  eye  of  a  needle, 
spiritual  truth," — that  "by  the  rich  are 
meant  those  who  are  in  the  knowledges  of 
truth  and  good,  and  by  riches  the  knowl- 
edges themselves ;"  and  after  this,  I  had 
almost  said  lucid  explanation,  that  "the 
rich  come  into  heaven  as  easily  as  the 
poor."  Our  Saviour  says  that  in  heaven 
they  neither  marry  nor  are  given  in  mar- 
riage ;  but  Swedonborg  says  that  "  there  are 
marriages  in  heaven  as  well  as  on  earth," 
and  describes  their  whole  character  and  ar- 
rangements. "With  such  a  key  as  his,  with 
that  pretended  inward  meaning,  he  may 
contradict  any  other  words  of  Scripture  as 


3O  Swedenborgianism. 


readily  as  these ;  for  the  supposition  of  such 
a  key  is  fatal  to  the  supreme  authority  of 
the  whole. 

He  contradicts  the  word  of  God,  by  de- 
nying the  divine  authority  of  the  books  of 
the  Old  Testament,  and  of  all  the  New  ex- 
cept the  four  Gospels  and  the  Revelation. 
"We  have  to  choose  between  Swedenborg 
and  Paul ;  for  Swedenborg  denies  both  the 
doctrine  of  Paul  and  his  inspiration.  After 
this,  it  becomes  a  question  of  compara- 
tively little  importance  whether  he  may 
chance  on  any  subject  to  agree  with  that 
Bible  of  which  he  gives  so  much  to  the 
winds.  The  ground  of  agreement,  where  he 
does  agree,  is  not  submissive  to  the  Bible. 

He  contradicts  it  by  denying  the  distinc- 
tion of  the  three  Divine  Persons,  asserting  a 
Trinity  in  one  Person,  and  that  Person  at 


Swedenborgianism.  31 

once  Christ  and  the  Father  ;  so  that  all  the 
words  of  our  Lord  respecting  the  Father 
and  the  Son  are  rendered  less  than  unmean- 
ing; and  all  prayer  is  to  be  offered,  not 
through  Christ  to  the  Father,  but  to  Christ 
as  the  Father ;  by  declaring  that  the  human 
nature  of  our  Lord  was  "  full  of  impure  and 
unhallowed  principles,"  like  ours ;  by  deny- 
ing entirely  the  atonement  and  propitiation 
through  the  blood  of  the  Lamb  of  God ;  by 
denying  entirely  the  intercession  of  our 
Lord  as  our  great  High-priest,  and  the  duty 
and  propriety  of  offering  our  prayers  in  His 
name  ;  by  denying  entirely  the  great  truth, 
so  urged  by  St  Paul,  of  justification  through 
faith  in  the  Sou  of  God,  which  he  calls  a 
heresy ;  by  denying  the  resurrection  of  the 
body,  in  direct  opposition  to  the  words  of 
our  Saviour ;  and  by  denying,  as  directly,  the 


32  Swedenborgianism. 


second  coming  of  Christ  to  judge  the  world, 
t!ie  last  judgment  having,  as  they  say,  taken 
place  one  hundred  years  ago.  It  is  not  my 
present  duty  to  prove  these  doctrines  of  the 
Scriptures.  You  all  know  perfectly  that 
they  are  written  there,  as  plainly  as  the 
numbers  of  the  chapters  and  verses.  You 
all,  I  trust,  believe  the  Scriptures ;  and  if 
the  Scriptures,  in  these  respects,  are  true, 
Swedenborgianism,  in  these  respects,  is 
false  ;  and  such  falsehood  must  be  perilous 
to  the  soul  which  makes  it  its  support. 

The  word  of  God  is  contradicted,  too,  by 
the  morals  which  Swedenborg  and  Sweden- 
borgianism have  dared  to  inculcate.  They 
have  represented,  both  in  theory  and  in 
practice,  the  road  to  heaven  as  broad  and 
eas}r,  and  requiring  little  of  self-denial  and 
of  taking  up  the  cross.  They  have  depre- 


Swedenborgianism.  33 


ciatocl  thr  importance  of  prayer ;  limiting  it, 
at  least  formerly,  in  public  devotion,  to  the 
use  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  very  little 
urging  it  in  private.  They  have  recom- 
mended those  amusements  which  most 
tend  to  divert  the  mind  from  serious 
thoughts  and  habits,  and  to  create  a  gene- 
ral frivolity  of  character;  such  as  games 
at  cards,  billiards,  dice,  dances,  and  thea- 
trical entertainments.  They  have  taught, 
not  only  that  Polygamy  is  no  sin  for  the 
Mahometan,  but  that  he  has  had  his  concu- 
bines as  well  as  his  wives  in  the  lower  heav- 
en. Swedenborg  himself  taught  there  were 
causes  legitimate,  just,  real,  and  sufficient  for 
the  practice  of  concubinage,  in  certain  cases, 
even  amongst  Christians. ;  and  those  causes 
were  such  as  are  exceedingly  numerous  and 
exceedingly  common.  He  teaches,  also, 
3 


34  Stoedenborgianism. 


and  recommends,  in  certain  cases,  the 
practice  of  that  very  sin,  of  which  the 
Apostle  Paul  says,  "Let  it  not  be  once 
named  among  you,  as  becometh  saints." 
In  truth,  the  writings  of  Swedenborg  linger 
and  expatiate  on  subjects  which  we  are  com- 
pelled, not  merely  in  the  house  of  God,  but 
in  any  respectable  company,  to  pass  with 
the  faintest  allusion.  I  do  not  doubt  that 
those  who  otherwise  follow  him,  blush  at 
those  pages;  and  to  many  of  them  they 
are  probably  unknown. 

The  painful  task  which  I  proposed  is  now 
performed.  I  have  shown  what  Sweden- 
borgianism  attempts  to  be ;  then,  what  is  the 
extent  of  the  delusions  which  it  invokes ;  and 
then,  how  directly  it  contradicts  and  over- 
throws the  word  of  God.  That  such  a  sys- 
tem should  have  any  attractions  for  any 


Savedenborgia  n  ism.  3  5 


minds,  may  seem  wonderful,  but  admits  an 
explanation.  It  promises  to  disclose  the 
•ecrets  of  the  life  to  come ;  and  that  is  a 
knowledge  which  to  some  is  so  welcome  that 
they  will  accept  any  tale  of  such  wonders 
without  the  color  of  real  evidence. 

It  softens  and  smooths  down  all  the  more 
mysterious  and  difficult  doctrines  of  the 
Scriptures,  professing  generally  to  receive 
them  in  name,  while  it  removes  their  sub- 
stance, and  offering  also  a  key  through  which 
any  doctrine  may  be  explained  away.  It 
presents,  in  practice,  the  easiest  of  all  reli- 
gions ;  counselling  little  more  than  to  wish 
well  to  others,  and  seek  your  own  enjoyment, 
assured  that  at  death  you  will  pass  to  the 
state  which  you  have  chosen.  It  embraces 
but  a  small  number  of  persons ;  the  small- 
ness  of  their  number  and  the  peculiarity  of 


36  Swedenborgianism. 

their  opinions  bind  them  closely  together. 
It  is  not  a  religion  for  the  ignorant,  the 
poor,  or  the  penitent;  but  it  offers  suffi- 
ciently pleasant  associations  for  those  who 
seek  in  their  religion,  rather  to  be  pleased 
than  to  please  God  and  to  walk  in  the 
truth. 

Its  one  sole  difficulty,  my  dear  brethren, 
is,  it  is  not  true ;  it  is  one  vast,  utter  de- 
lusion, resting  on  the  speculations  and 
dreams  of  one  who  would  have  been  justly 
deemed  a  blasphemer,  if  he  had  not  been  a 
monomaniac.  Hard  as  it  is  to  speak  plainly 
of  such  subjects  with  tenderness  to  feelings 
which  we  would  not  willingly  wound,  yet,  as 
a  Christian  pastor  and  Bishop,  who  must 
give  an  account,  I  must  speak  plainly. 
Those  numerous  volumes  which  Sweden- 
borgianism would  substitute  for  the  Bible, 


Swcaenborgianism.  37 


far  from  indicating  genius,  depth  or  wisdom, 
are  superficial,  absurd  and  worthless.  You 
may  be  told  that  you  do  uot  understuud 
what  you  read  iu  them,  and  you  may  suppose 
ih  it  there  must  be  more  there  than  you  can 
understand ;  but  only  a  little  patience  is  re- 
quired to  see  all  the  meaning  which  they 
have,  and  to  see  that  it  has  no  value.  Let 
me  entreat  you,  then,  to  withdraw  yourselves, 
and  to  seek  to  withdraw  all  over  whom  you 
have  influence,  from  lending  any  siinction  to 
a  system,  which,  if  it  could  widely  prevail, 
would  be  most  disastrous  and  fatal  to  the 
interests  of  society,  and  to  the  souls  of  men. 
There  can  be  no  compromise.  If  there  is 
am  thing  which  you  love  and  revere  in  the 
Gospel,  or  the  Church  of  Christ,  it  is  vir- 
tually renounced  and  trodden  under  foot 
when  that  Church  is  exchanged  for  a  n«w 


Swedenborgiamsm. 


Church,  and  that  Gospel  for  another  Gos- 
pel. Remember  the  words  of  the  Apostle 
St.  Paul  in  Col.  ii.  18,  19,  and  which,  from 
first  to  last,  are  so  strikingly  applicable  to 
this  subject.  "  Let  no  man  beguile  you  of 
your  reward  in  a  voluntary  humility  and 
worshipping  of  angels,  intruding  into  those 
things  which  he  hath  not  seen,  vainly  puffed 
up  by  his  fleshly  mind,  and  not  holding 
the  Head,  from  which  all  the  body  by 
joints  and  bands  having  nourishment  min- 
istered, and  knit  together,  iucreaseth  with 
the  increase  of  God." 

Should  I  address  any  who  have  given 
their  confidence  to  the  claims  of  this  found- 
er of  a  new  religion,  I  would  embrace  the 
opportunity  of  pleading  with  them,  in  the 
name  of  their  Redeemer.  He  died  for  your 
salvation  ;  "  there  is  none  other  name  under 


Swedenborgiamsm.  39 


heaven  given  among  men,  whereby  ye  must 
he  saved."  Forsake  Him  not  for  the  dreams 
of  u  false  Christ  or  false  prophet.  I  say 
it  respectfully,  but  earnestly,  solemnly,  en- 
treatingly,  for  Jesus'  sake.  You  know  not 
what  you  do.  Much  of  Christianity  you 
have  carried  with  you  into  the  Swedeu- 
borgiau  school;  enough  to  make  some 
bright  examples  of  benevolence  and  of 
patience.  The  Christian  part  is  excellent ; 
and  for  it  those  individuals  shall  have 
our  respect,  our  honor,  our  esteem,  our 
affection.  The  Swedenborgian  part  is  all 
error,  delusion  and  danger.  Return  to  the 
cross  of  your  Saviour,  on  which  Sweden- 
borgiauistn  refuses  to  rely.  Return  to  the 
Church  of  the  living  God,  which  Sweden- 
borgianistn  would  fain  supplant  and  over- 
throw. Return  to  the  holy  and  blessed 


40  Swedenborgianism. 


word  of  divine  truth  which  Swedenborgian- 
ism so  daringly  perverts  and  so  largely  re- 
jects. I  know  how  much  I  venture  in  speak- 
ing as  I  have  spoken ;  but  there  will  be 
hours  when  the  Spirit  will  touch  your 
hearts,  and  tell  you  that  dreams  cannot  do 
the  work  of  His  truth  and  grace :  then  listen, 
and  return ! 


EPISCOPALIANISM 


IN   THREE   PARTS. 


Bv  B.  F.    BARRETT. 


Audi  Alterant  Partem, 


PHILADELPHIA 

J.    B.    I.IPPINCOTT    &    CO. 

1871. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1871,  by 

J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  &  CO., 
In  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


LIPPIXCOTT'S  PRESS, 
PHILADELPHIA. 


CONTENTS. 


PART  I. 

PACK 

EPISCOPAUAXISM  IN  ITS  OWN  DRESS 5-75 


PART  II. 
EPISCOPALIANISM  IN  BORROWED  ROBES 75~I29 

PART  III. 

EPISCOPALIANISM  AT  THE  CONFESSIONAL 129-180 

3 


NOTE. 

A  little  pamphlet  entitled  "  SWEDENBORGIANISM, 
by  Bishop  Burgess, ' '  suggested  the  preparation  and 
publication  of  the  following  pages.  The  writer 
has  aimed  not  to  copy  the  Bishop's  strange  disre- 
gard of  truth  and  fairness;  but  in  his  manner  of 
handling  the  subject  treated,  particularly  in  Part  /., 
he  has  adhered  as  closely  as  circumstances  would 
permit  to  the  example  set  him  in  the  pamphlet  re- 
ferred to;  and  in  many  instances  he  has  used  the 
Bishop*  s  own  language,  only  varying  its  application. 


EPISCOPALIANISM. 


PART    I. 
EP/SCOPALIANISM  IN  ITS  OWN  DRESS. 

EVERY  true  minister  of  the  Gospel,  whether  he 
has  or  has  not  bound  himself  by  any  formal 
promise  of  fidelity  at  the  time  of  his  ordination, 
feels  himself  under  a  moral  obligation  to  be  ready, 
with  all  faithful  diligence,  to  banish  and  drive 
away  from  the  Church,  and  from  the  minds  of  his 
fellow-men  wherever  they  may  be,  all  erroneous 
doctrines  contrary  to  God's  Word,  whether  they 
be  old  or  new,  strange  or  familiar.  Fealty  to  the 
Master  requires  him  to  expose  the  character  and 
tendency  of  any  system  which  threatens  the  spirit- 
ual progress  and  welfare  of  mankind  ;  and  to  warn 
men  against  the  snare  all  the  more,  if  they  do  not 
perceive  it  to  be  a  snare,  or  are  dazzled  by  the 
1  •  5 


6  Episeopalianism 

wealth,  numbers,  fashioner  outward  respectability 
of  those  who  have  imbibed  the  falsehood. 

But  it  is  at  this  very  point  where  real  danger 
begins,  that  some  plausible  maxims  are  en- 
countered, which  have  not  been  without  their 
weight  in  the  minds  even  of  Christians,  who  loved 
both  the  truth  and  peace.  It  is  thus  said  that  an 
opinion,  true  or  false,  only  gains  strength  and 
spreads  the  more,  when  it  is  openly  opposed.  Be 
silent,  it  is  said,  and  it  will  either  die  away  or 
cease  to  extend  itself  beyond  its  present  limits. 
It  is  perfectly  plain,  however,  that  reasoning  like 
this  is  exactly  that  which  may  be  employed  in  the 
case  of  any  disease  which  has  increased  till  it 
became  alarming  or  fatal.  Did  you  employ 
medical  treatment  ?  You  may  be  told  that  the 
treatment  caused  the  mischief.  Did  you  employ 
no  medical  treatment?  You  may  certainly  be 
told,  with  a  much  greater  appearance  of  justice, 
that  the  mischief  proceeded  from  your  neglect. 
I  suppose,  however,  that  no  father,  solicitous  for 
the  threatened  life  of  a  sick  child,  would  be  as 
much  disturbed  by  the  fear  that,  through  timely 
attention  to  the  complaint,  he  might  have  unin- 


In  its  Oum  Dress.  7 

tentionally  pushed  it  on,  as  by  the  dread  that  he 
might  have  neglected  it  too  long.  In  the  same 
manner  when  an  error  grows  up  and  lives  on,  it  is 
easy  to  say,  either  that  it  is  because  it  was  op- 
posed, or  because  it  was  not  opposed,  by  the 
clergy.  They  who  merely  reason  from  the  result 
are  always  liable  to  mistake  the  way  of  duty. 
There  cannot  be  the  smallest  doubt  that  it  is  right 
to  guard  those  whom  we  love,  those  for  whom  we 
are  in  any  degree  responsible — all,  indeed,  whom 
it  may  be  in  our  power  to  influence — against  every 
serious  danger  which  we  can  foresee ;  and  this  duty 
is  not  at  all  affected  by  the  result.  The  natural, 
obvious,  and  divinely  appointed  way  of  checking 
the  progress  of  error,  is,  to  detect,  expose  and 
refute  it  by  rational  and  scriptural  argument  and 
warning.  If  at  any  time  it  should  spread  in  de- 
fiance of  such  efforts,  we  may  be  sure  that  without 
them  it  would  have  spread  more  rapidly  and  more 
disastrously. 

There  is  another  objection  which  comes  home 
to  our  kindlier  feelings.  While  the  error  was  at 
a  distance,  to  contend  earnestly  against  it  was 
inoffensive,  but  was  also  quite  useless.  To  argue 


8  Episcopalianism 

against  the  Mormon  doctrine  wounds  no  one,  but 
is  of  no  profit.  But  when  the  error  approaches 
and  sits  down  amongst  us,  it  necessarily  happens 
that  those  on  whom  it  lays  its  grasp  are  our  friends 
and  neighbors.  We  love  them,  we  respect  them ; 
we  wish  to  live  in  union  and  concord ;  we  are  not 
blind  to  their  various  merits  ;  and  we  are  all  bound 
together  by  mutual  kindnesses.  It  is  not  possible 
seriously  to  assail  the  opinions  of  any  without 
danger  of  giving  pain  ;  and  certainly  it  is  not  ex- 
pedient to  condemn  them,  except  when  it  is  to  be 
done  with  great  seriousness.  Whatever  mode  may 
be  adopted,  reproof  and  censure  can  never  be 
made  pleasing.  Are  we  then  to  forbear  ?  Woe 
to  us  if  we  prove  faithless  to  our  duty  for  such  a 
cause ;  if  we  permit  those  whom  we  love  to  pass 
unwarned  into  danger,  or  to  remain  in  the  error 
they  have  embraced  without  an  effort  to  deliver 
them  from  it. 

I  am  about,  therefore,  to  speak  of  the  delusion 
known  as  Episcopalianism, — its  name  and  origin 
being  derived  from  that  form  of  ecclesiastical 
government  which  was  developed  in  an  unen- 
lightened period  of  the  church ;  and  to  speak  of 


In  its  Oum  Dress.  g 

it  for  the  very  reason  that  it  is  here ;  that  it  has  a 
foothold  in  our  community;  and  that  whatever 
powers  of  persuasion  it  may  possess,  are  exercised 
to  beguile  the  careless  and  unthinking. 

For  the  personal  character  of  many  of  those  by 
whom  this  doctrine  is  professed,  I  entertain  a  very 
high  degree  of  respect ;  there  is  not  one  of  them 
so  far  as  I  know,  from  whom  I  ever  received  any 
unkindness;  and  I  could  wish  not  to  inflict  the 
smallest  pain  by  any  words  which  the  truth  may 
require  to  be  uttered.  At  the  same  time,  there  is 
no  room  in  subjects  like  these  for  any  great  in- 
fluence of  personal  considerations.  If  that  which 
in  our  day  is  termed,  but  which  certainly  ought 
not  to  be  termed  "the  Holy  Catholic  Church" — 
if  that  doctrine  and  polity  known  as  Episco- 
palianism,  be  right,  the  Gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  the  uncorrupted  Christianity,  is  grossly 
wrong. 

All  other  Christian  denominations — how  re- 
peatedly and  rudely  have  they  been,  and  are  still, 
assailed  by  those  who  have  become  wedded  to 
Episcopal ianism  ! — as  if  all  outside  the  pale  of  this 
ism,  were  necessarily  outside  of  the  church  of 


io  Episcopalianism 

Christ.  We  are  not  called  to  retaliate,  except  as, 
from  the  nature  of  things,  that  which  thus  arro- 
gates to  itself  peculiar  graces,  and  proudly  flaunts 
its  claim  to  supereminence,  must  be  far  from  if 
not  opposite  to  the  truth,  and  justly  worthy, 
therefore,  of  condemnation.  But  it  is  not  the 
province  of  Christianity  to  defend  its  own  cause, 
so  much  as  to  attack  and  overthrow,  by  the  arms 
of  truth,  all  which  is  hostile  to  the  declared  will 
of  God  our  Saviour.  We  must  refuse  to  stand  on 
the  defensive ;  we  must  push  error  back  upon  its 
own  ground ;  break  down  its  fastnesses,  if  it  has 
any;  expose  its  hiding  places;  disclose  it  as  it  is; 
and  if  it  be  possible,  leave  it  no  disguise  through 
which  an  honest  heart  can  be  deceived.  We 
would  destroy  the  error,  that  we  may  rescue  the 
erring. 

I  offer  no  apology,  then,  for  doing  that  which 
is  my  duty ;  for  attempting  to  show  what  Episco- 
palianism  is,  or  claims  to  be;  what  delusions  it 
embraces;  and,  beyond  these  delusions,  how  it 
contradicts  the  Word  of  God.  Let  us  only  pray 
that  all  may  be  done  with  that  temper  which  the 
Holy  Spirit  sheds  abroad  in  the  heart,  and  that 


In  its  Own  Dress.  n 

we  all  may  be  enlightened  by  the  truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus. 

Episcopalianism  is  the  name  which  should  be 
carefully  given  to  the  doctrinal  and  ecclesiastical 
system  acknowledged  by  that  body  of  people  who 
call  themselves  ' '  The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church' ' 
—"the  Holy  Catholic  Church"—"  THE  Church, ' ' 
by  way  of  eminence.  There  is  but  one  Church 
of  Christ ;  it  embraces  all  who  believe  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  as  their  only  Redeemer  and  Saviour, 
who  love  Him  supremely  and  their  neighbor  as 
themselves,  and  who  follow  after  Him  by  a  faith- 
ful and  religious  observance  of  his  precepts.  There 
is  no  "  holy  catholic  church"  in  the  sense  in  which 
that  designation  is  claimed ;  no  one  organized 
and  visible  body  of  people  that  can  with  any  pro- 
priety be  called,  or  can  call  itself,  "THE  Church." 
The  title  of  "the  Holy  Catholic  Church"  would 
be  a  strange  misnomer,  indeed — something  akin 
to  blasphemy — if  we  gave  it  deliberately  to  a  body 
which  we  believe  to  be  of  mere  human  institu- 
tion, and  to  be  founded  in  multiplied  and  gross 
perversions  of  the  Scripture.  If  any  man  can 
suppose  the  Episcopalian  sect  to  be  the  Holy 


1 2  Episcopalianism 

Catholic  Church,  he  of  course  can  give  it  that 
name  with  a  good  conscience;  but  with  such 
sacred  words  it  would  be  well  for  the  rest  of  man- 
kind not  to  trifle. 

Whatever  parts  of  Christian  truth  may  be  main- 
tained by  this  communion,  just  as  by  all  Chris- 
tians, cannot,  of  course,. be  considered  as  properly 
Episcopalian.  Whatever  just  thoughts  or  correct 
views  may  be  entertained  by  them,  are  the  com- 
mon property  of  all  in  Christian  lands.  They 
stand  as  a  sect  or  communion,  through  their  ad- 
herence to  the  Prayer-Book,  the  Thirty-nine 
Articles,  the  dogma  of  Apostolic  Succession,  and 
the  traditions  and  authority  of  "the  church." 
Here  lies,  my  brethren,  a  peculiar  danger  of  that 
system — its  tendency  to  encourage  its  adherents  to 
rest  in,  or  to  submit  unquestionably  to,  the  decrees 
of  Councils,  the  conclusions  of  Bishops,  mere 
human  authority  in  matters  of  faith,  instead  of 
freely  exercising  their  own  rational  powers,  and 
inquiring  each  one  for  himself  what  the  Lord 
hath  spoken,  or  what  is  really  true.  The  same 
tendency  is  manifest  in  most  of  the  sects;  but 
(save  in  the  Romish  hierarchy,  which  "the  Prot* 


In  its   Own  Dress.  13 

estant  Episcopal  Church ' '  so  closely  resembles) 
in  a  less  degree.  A  person  may  misinterpret  the 
Scriptures,  and  may  be  brought,  through  the  faith- 
ful exercise  of  his  God-given  powers,  to  a  more 
correct  interpretation.  He  may  reason  wrong ; 
but  if  his  thinking  and  reasoning  faculty  be  devel- 
oped and  strengthened  by  exercise,  he  may  learn  at 
last  to  reason  right.  He  may  misread  or  misun- 
derstand the  indications  of  Providence,  and  in  the 
end  learn  wisdom  from  experience  and  even  from 
his  mistakes  and  failures.  But  the  Episcopalian 
errs,  not  merely  because  he  does  not  understand 
the  Scriptures ;  nor  because  he  reasons  ill — for  he 
rarely  reasons  at  all  on  points  that  "  the  church" 
has  settled  ;  but  chiefly  because,  like  the  Romanist, 
he  accepts  what  his  Priest  or  Bishop  says,  or  what 
"the  church"  has  decreed,  without  questioning; 
because  he  exalts  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  above 
reason  and  Scripture,  and  yields  up  his  whole  soul 
blindly  and  submissively  to  the  authority  of  "the 
church." 

I  do  not  think  that  I  go  too  far  in  saying  that, 
as  authorities,  the  Prayer  Book  and  Thirty-nine 
Articles  are  placed  above  the  apostles  and  prophets, 
2 


14  Episcopalianism 

and  really  (though,  perhaps,  unconsciously)  above 
our  blessed  Saviour.  These  in  several  places  make 
the  words  of  the  Saviour  mean  what  they  obviously 
do  not  mean,  and  what  no  enlightened  and 
spiritually  minded  person  would  ever  dream  of 
their  meaning.  These  merely  human  authorities — 
unreliable  and  misleading  as  they  are — are  looked 
to  for  matters  of  belief  and  doctrine  more  than 
the  words  of  the  Lord  himself;  and  their  teach- 
ing held  to  be  no  less  authoritative  than  that  of 
the  Bible.  Yet  I  do  not  at  all  design  to  say  that 
those  who  drew  up  the  "Articles"  or  composed 
the  "Liturgy,"  intended  to  lower  the  reverence 
of  men  for  the  Redeemer,  or  to  compare  him  with 
any  mortal.  But  said  Articles  and  Liturgy  are 
none  the  less  a  hindrance  to  the  progress  of  the 
Redeemer's  kingdom,  or  to  the  diffusion  of  the 
true  knowledge  and  life  of  heaven  among  the 
children  of  men. 

Look  at  some  of  the  arrogant  assumptions  and 
astounding  claims  of  this  "  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church!"  It  claims  to  be  "the  one,  holy,  cath- 
olic, apostolic  church;"  to  possess  the  exclusive 
right  to  induct  men  into  the  office  of  the  Chris- 


/;/  its  Own  Dress.  15 

tian  ministry,  and  to  bestow  on  them  the  authority 
to  administer  the  Christian  ordinances.  It  claims 
that  its  ministers  are  the  only  duly  accredited 
ministers  of  Christ ;  and  the  sacraments  adminis- 
tered by  them,  the  only  authorized  and  valid  ones. 
The  ministers  of  this  communion,  therefore,  hold 
themselves  aloof  from  other  Christian  ministers; 
will  not  exchange  pulpits  with  them ;  will  not 
recognize  them  as  possessing  a  like  authority  with 
themselves  to  go  and  preach  the  gospel,  and  bap- 
tize in  the  name  of  the  Lord.  It  holds  to  the 
duty  or  desirableness  of  private  confession  to 
priests,  and  to  the  ability  of  its  priests  on  such 
occasions  to  absolve  the  confessor  from  sin.  Says 
one  of  its  learned  and  accepted  authorities  (Rev. 
Wm.  Palmer,  A.  M.,  of  Oxford):  "The  practice 
of  private  confession  to  priests,  and  absolution, 
she  [the  Church  of  England]  never  abolished.  .  .  . 
That  the  church  did  not  mean  to  abolish  confes- 
sion and  absolution  (which  she  even  regards  as  a 
sort  of  sacrament)  in  general,  appears  from  the 
office  of  the  eucharist,  and  for  the  visitation  of 
the  sick,  then  drawn  up  (1547);  and  from  the 
power  conferred  on  priests  in  the  ordination 


1 6  Episcopalianism 

services."  {Treatise  on  the  Church  of  Christ — 
Appleton's  edition,  vol.  i.,  p.  477.)  What  is  "the 
power  conferred  on  priests"  here  alluded  to?  Let 
the  ''Book  of  Common  Prayer"  used  by  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States 
of  America,  answer :  "  The  Bishop  with  the 
Priests  present,  shall  lay  their  hands  severally 
upon  the  head  of  every  one  that  receiveth  the 
order  of  Priesthood ;  the  receivers  humbly  kneel- 
ing and  the  Bishop  saying:  'Receive  the  Holy 
Ghost  for  the  office  and  work  of  a  Priest  in  the 
Church  of  God,  now  committed  unto  thee  by  the 
imposition  of  our  hands.  Whose  sins  thou  dost 
forgive,  they  are  forgiven ;  and  whose  sins  thou 
dost  retain,  they  are  retained.  ...  In  the  name 
of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  Amen.'  " 

So  blind  and  presumptuous  is  this  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church !  So  unenlightened  in  regard  to 
things  spiritual,  as  to  believe  and  teach  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  can  be  committed  unto  a  person  by 
the  laying  of  ordaining  hands  upon  that  person's 
head;  and  that  thereafter,  and  in  consequence  of 
such  imposition  of  hands,  that  person  has  power 


In  its  Own  Dress.  17 

to  forgive  or  retain  whosesoever  sins  he  will ! 
Does  Christianity  confer  on  frail  and  fallible  mor- 
tals the  power  thus  to  bind  men  to  or  absolve  them 
from  their  sins?  Or  will  any  body  of  people  who 
rightly  understand  Christianity,  presume  to  do  it? 

Equally  unenlightened  is  this  Church  on  the 
great  doctrine  of  man's  regeneration,  or  the  new 
spiritual  birth — the  birth  of  the  soul  into  the  new, 
even  the  heavenly  life.  This  is  plain  from  what 
is  enjoined  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  con- 
cerning the  baptism  of  children.  After  the  cross 
shall  have  been  made  upon  the  child's  forehead, 
says  the  Prayer-Book,  "Then  shall  the  minister 
say:  Seeing  now,  dearly  beloved  brethren,  that 
this  child  is  regenerate,  and  grafted  into  the  body 
of  Christ's  church,  let  us  give  thanks  unto  Al- 
mighty God  for  these  benefits,"  etc. — "Then 
shall  be  said,  all  kneeling,  We  yield  thee  hearty 
thanks,  most  merciful  Father,  that  it  hath  pleased 
thee  to  regenerate  this  infant,"  etc. — 

As  //the  sublime  and  life-long  work  of  regener- 
ation could  thus  be  accomplished  in  a  moment, 
and  simply  by  a  priest's  making  the  sign  of  the 

cross  on  the  infant's  forehead  !     What  utter  igno- 
2"  B 


1 8  Episcopalianism 

ranee  is  here  revealed  of  one  of  the  great  and 
central  truths  of  the  Christian  religion  !  Many 
of  the  ministers  of  the  Episcopal  Church  see 
clearly  enough  the  falsity  of  what  is  here  enjoined. 
But  they  have  no  discretion  in  the  case.  They 
must  make  their  consciences  bend  to  the  rubric — 
must  utter,  in  a  solemn  religious  service,  what 
they  sincerely  believe  to  be  a  falsehood,  or  sur- 
render their  credentials  and  leave  the  Church. 
To  show  how  tyrannous  is  the  Prayer  Book,  and 
how  authoritative  and  binding  its  injunctions 
(even  when  they  are  seen  to  be  contrary  to  the 
Word  of  God),  a  minister  was  lately  suspended 
from  the  exercise  of  his  ministerial  functions  by 
the  Bishop  of  Illinois,  because  he  omitted,  and 
persisted  in  omitting,  this  portion  of  the  baptismal 
service  when  christening  little  children. 

We  thus  see  what  Episcopalianism  assumes  to 
be  and  to  do.  We  will  not  deny  it  the  Christian 
name  so  long  as  it  professes  to  be  Christian.  But 
if  it  be  a  form  of  Christianity,  it  is  certainly  a 
much  marred  and  distorted  form.  The  Bible, 
interpreted  in  the  light  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
by  the  individual  conscience,  .or  by  the  reason 


In  its  Own  Dress.  19 

and  common  sense  of  the  people  of  our  times,  is 
not  its  rule ;  but  the  Bible  as  understood  and  in- 
terpreted in  an  age  considerably  darker  than  ours 
— the  Bible  with  the  glosses  put  upon  it  by  cer- 
tain ecclesiastical  dignitaries  in  the  reign  of  Ed- 
ward the  Sixth,  more  than  three  hundred  years 
ago.  Where  and  what  would  have  been  the  sci- 
ence of  to-day,  if  the  science  of  England  three 
centuries  ago  had  been  embodied  in  thirty-nine 
Articles  (more  or  less),  and  the  students  of  science 
had  ever  since  sworn  by  them,  or  feared  to  take 
one  step  beyond  lest  they  should  Be  stigmatised 
as  fools  or  quacks  by  the  whole  scientific  frater- 
nity? Precisely  where  and  what  the  theology  of 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  is  to-day.  There 
is  a  science  of  spiritual  as  well  as  of  natural  things, 
and  we  should  expect  a  progressive  advance  in  the 
one  as  well  as  in  the  other.  If  the  Word  of  God 
bears  any  resemblance  to  his  works,  why  should 
there  not  be  a  progressive  evolution  of  deeper  and 
still  deeper  truth  from  the  former  as  well  as  from 
the  latter?  There  is  no  end  to  man's  progress  in 
knowledge  of  the  works  of  God ;  and  are  we  to 
suppose  that  the  last  step  in  the  understanding  or 


20  Episcopalianism 

interpretation  of  his  Word  was  taken  more  than 
three  hundred  years  ago?  No.  It  is  the  order 
of  Heaven  that  there  be  continual  progress  in  all 
kinds  of  knowledge,  religious  as  well  as  scientific 
— in  the  knowledge  of  God's  Word  as  well  as  of 
his  works.  The  antiquity  of  any  doctrine  or  pol- 
ity, therefore,  is  the  poorest  possible  argument  in 
its  defence. 

Such  being  some  of  the  claims  and  assumptions 
of  Episcopalianism,  we  will  next  allude  to  some 
of  the  errors  and  delusions  which  it  hugs  and  pro- 
mulgates as  truth  divine.  Under  this  head  I 
shall  mention  things  that  are  directly  contradic- 
tory to  the  Word  of  God,  and  which  all  unbiased 
and  enlightened  minds  must  declare  to  be  as  little 
credible  as  the  dreams  of  insanity.  And  I  shall 
take  them  all  from  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
duly  ratified  by  the  bishops,  clergy  and  laity  of 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United 
States  of  America,  in  convention  assembled,  Octo- 
ber 1 6,  1789.  I  begin  with  that  which  is  or 
should  be  the  central  doctrine  in  any  system  of 
religious  belief — the  doctrine  concerning  the  Di- 
vine Being  or  the  true  Object  of  worship. 


In  its  Own  Dress.  21 

What  is  the  teaching  of  Episcopalianism  on  this 
all-important  point?  We  have  the  answer  in  the 
very  first  of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  the  first 
clause  of  which  reads:  "There  is  but  one  living 
and  true  God,  everlasting,  without  body,  parts,  or 
passions."  Now  the  Bible  assures  us  that  eternal 
life  consists  in  the  true  knowledge  of  God  and  of 
Jesus  Christ  the  Sent  of  God.  And  Bishop  Bev- 
erage says:  "It  is  impossible  for  any  man  to  serve 
God  that  doth  not  first  know  Him."  But  how 
can  we  ever  know  a  being  that  is  "  without  body, 
parts  or  passions?"  Can  we  form  any  concep- 
tion of  such  a  being  ?  Can  we  love  or  think  of 
him  ?  Can  we  love  a  mere  abstraction  ?  Can  we 
think  of  that  which  has  no  form  or  body  of  any 
kind?  What  does  the  mental  eye  rest  upon  when 
we  think  of — nothing?  fora  thing  or  being  that 
has  no  form,  is  nothing.  And  such  (according 
to  the  "Articles")  is  the  Episcopalian's  God, 
"  whom  to  know  is  life  eternal !" 

But  very  different  from  this  mere  abstraction  is 
the  God  which  the  Bible  tells  us  of.  The  God  of 
the  Bible  has  body,  parts  and  passions.  For  does 
not  the  Scripture  speak  of  God's  face,  eyes,  ears, 


22  Episcopalianism 

mouth,  hand,  arm,  etc.  ?  And  are  not  these 
parts?  And  do  they  not  clearly  imply  a  whole? 
that  is,  a  body  ?  Can  we  conceive  of  such  parts 
existing  without  a  body?  And  does  not  the  Scrip- 
ture speak,  too,  of  God's  love  and  mercy  and  com- 
passion and  forgiveness  ?  And  what  are  these  but 
passions,  emotions  or  affections  ? 

The  very  first  sentence,  therefore,  in  the  Epis- 
copalian "Articles  of  Religion"  is  as  contrary  to 
the  express  teachings  of  the  Bible  as  it  is  to  the 
dictate  of  reason  and  common  sense. 

This  first  sentence  in  the  "Articles"  clearly 
denies  (by  implication,  at  least)  the  personality 
of  God ;  for  personality  means  that  which  consti- 
tutes or  pertains  to  a  person.  And  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  even  conceive  of  a  person  who  is  "without 
body,  parts  or  passions."  Such  a  person  never 
had  and  never  can  have  existence — no,  not  even 
in  the  airy  regions  of  fancy.  And  to  talk  of  any 
such  bodiless,  partless,  passionless  being  as  "liv- 
ing," or  as  possessing  "power,  wisdom  and  good- 
ness," is  to  talk  more  after  the  manner  of  the 
silly  jargon  of  the  Middle  Ages,  than  in  the  sober 
and  intelligible  way  of  modern  times. 


///  its  Own  Dress.  23 

Yet  Episcopalianism,  strange  to  say,  professes 
to  teach  the  existence  of  a  personal  God.  And 
more  than  that,  it  (foes  teach  the  existence  of  three 
personal  Gods ;  for  what  else  can  we  make  of  the 
three  Divine  Persons  of  whom  the  Prayer  Book  so 
often  speaks,  and  to  whom  are  assigned  such  dif- 
ferent characters  and  functions?  The  last  sen- 
tence of  its  first  Article,  as  if  to  make  amends  for 
its  manifest  denial  of  the  personality  of  God  in 
the  first  sentence,  says:  "And  in  unity  of  this 
Godhead  there  be  three  Persons  of  one  substance, 
power  and  eternity,  the  Father,  the  Son  and  the 
Holy  Ghost."  And  very  often  in  the  Prayer 
Book  are  these  spoken  of  as  three  distinct  Beings 
or  Gods — for  whether  we  say  three  Divine  Per- 
sons, three  Divine  Beings,  or  three  Gods,  to  the 
popular  apprehension  it  is  all  the  same.  Thus  in 
the  Catechism  "to  be  learned  by  every  person 
before  he  be  brought  to  be  confirmed  by  the 
Bishop,"  the  candidate  is  asked:  "What  dost 
thou  chiefly  learn  in  these  Articles  of  thy  belief?" 
To  which  he  is  required  to  answer:  "First,  I 
learn  to  believe  in  God  the  Father,  who  hath 
made  me  and  all  the  world.  Secondly,  in  God 


24  Episcopalianism 

the  Son,  who  hath  redeemed  me  and  all  mankind. 
Thirdly,  in  God  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  sanctifieth 
me  and  all  the  people  of  God."  Thus  every  can- 

•  9 

didate  for  admission  into  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  is  required  to  solemnly  declare  his  belief 
in  three  Divine  Persons — God  the  Father,  God 
the  Son,  and  God  the  Holy  Ghost — to  each  of 
whom  a  distinct  and  peculiar  function  is  allotted. 
And  if  this  be  not  a  declaration  of  a  belief  in 
three  Gods,  then  the  language  here  employed 
must  have  been  framed  more  with  a  view  to  con- 
ceal thought  than  to  express  it.  Moreover,  each 
of  these  Persons  is  addressed  separately  in  prayer; 
and  a  different  petition  is  addressed  to  one  from 
that  addressed  to  another,  as  if  it  were  the  office 
of  each  to  do  something  different  from  the  other 
two.  And  one  of  them  is  said  to  have  been  be- 
gotten by  another.  That  is,  one  Divine  Person 
or  God,  begotten  by  another  Divine  Person  or 
God ! — yet  each  and  all  alike  eternal!  The  sec- 
ond of  these  Persons  is  represented,  too,  as  very 
differently  disposed  toward  mankind  from  the 
first ;  as  being  seated  at  the  right  hand  of  the  first, 
pleading  the  cause  of  us  sinners,  making  interces- 


In  its  Own  Dress.  25 

sion  for  us;  and  not  unfrequently  is  He  spoken 

/ 

of  as  our  "advocate  with  the  Father."  An  advo- 
cate is  one  who  pleads  another's  cause  before  a 
judge,  or  some  tribunal ;  he  is  not  the  judge  hjm- 
self.  Then  think  of  a  being  "without  body  or 
parts"  being  seated  at  the  right  hand  of  another^ 
bodiless  and  partless  being  ! — for  Episcopalianism 
does  not,  I  presume,  mean  to  teach  that  one  of  its 
Divine  Persons  has  a  body  and  parts,  and  can  sit 
down  at  the  right  hand  of  another  that  is  without 
body  or  parts. 

Is  there  no  confusion  here?  Why  if  men  were 
to  string  together  such  contradictions — yes,  such 
unmitigated  nonsense — upon  any  other  subject, 
and  gravely  propound  the  medley  for  the  accept- 
ance of  rational  and  intelligent  beings,  we  should 
certainly  think  they  had  lost  their  reason — or  had 
never  had  any  to  lose.  Nor  does  it  help  the  mat- 
ter at  all,  but  rather  adds  to  the  confusion,  to 
teach  that  these  three  Divine  Persons  are  one  Di- 
vine Person.  You  may  say  and  prove  that  three 
men  are  one  in  thought,  feeling,  desire  and  pur- 
pose ;  but  so  long  as  they  remain  three,  each  with 
a  distinct  personality,  you  are  compelled  to  think 

8 


26  Episcopalianism 

of  them  as  three;  and  however  you  may  compel 
your  lips  to  say  they  are  one  man,  no  arithmetic 
has  ever  yet  been  found  out  capable  of  proving 
your  assertion  true.  The  utterance  of  your  lips 
will  for  ever  contradict  your  thought. 

And  all  this  senseless  jargon  is  gravely  put  forth 
by  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  for  the  re- 
vealed truth  of  God  !  And  men  and  women  and 
little  children,  every  Sunday  in  the  year,  and 
often  on  other  days  of  the  week,  are  expected  to 
confess  their  belief  in  these  things  in  a  solemn 
and  reverential  manner — thereby  confirming  them- 
selves more  and  more  in  this  fundamental  falsity, 
the  Tripersonality  of  God. 

For  whether  we  consult  reason  or  Scripture, 
the  falsity  of  the  dogma  is  equally  apparent. 
Reason  affirms  that  God  is  one — one  in  person  as 
well  as  in  essence.  And  the  Bible  sustains  the 
verdict  of  reason.  Everywhere  in  the  sacred  Vol- 
ume is  God  presented  to  us  as  one  Being — one 
Mind — one  Entity — one  Divine  Person,  and  never 
as  three  Persons.  And  this  God  has  come  and 
revealed  himself  unto  men  in  the  one  Person  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  He  is  the  manifested  Je- 


///  its  Own  Dress.  27 

hovah ;  "God  with  us."  He  is  declared  to  be 
"the  Word,"  which  was  made  flesh.  He  said  that 
the  Father  dwelt  in  Him;  that  He  was  the  Father 
shown  or  revealed  unto  men.  "The  Father  that 
dwelleth  in  me,  He  doeth  the  works  ;"  "  He  that 
hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father;"  "  I  and  the 
Father  are  one."  These  are  among  his  own  dec- 
larations. The  Father  dwelt  in  Him  as  the  soul 
of  man  dwells  in  his  body.  Because  a  man  has  a 
body  as  well  as  a  soul,  he  is  not  therefore  two  per- 
sons ;  and  because  there  is  a  proceeding  energy  or 
activity  resulting  from  the  union  of  soul  and  body, 
like  the  activity  of  light  and  heat  which  emanate 
from  the  sun,  he  is  not,  therefore,  three  persons. 
It  is  plain  to  be  seen,  then,  what  is  the  nature  of 
the  trinity  in  God  ;  for  man,  the  Scripture  assures 
us,  was  made  "  in  the  image  of  God."  But  man 
is  not  tripcrsonal ';  neither  is  God,  according  to 
the  teaching  of  the  Bible.  The  apostle  Paul,  too, 
says,  that  "in  Him  [i.  e.  Jesus  ChristJ  dwelleth 
all  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead  bodily."  There 
can  be,  then,  no  other  personal  God  besides  Him. 
Among  the  names,  too,  by  which  it  was  foretold 
that  He  should  be  called,  are  "the  Mighty  God," 


28  Episcopalianism 

"the  Everlasting  Father."  And  when  to  the  be- 
loved disciple  "a  door  was  opened  in  heaven," 
what  does  he  see  there?  The  three  Divine  Per- 
sons that  Episcopal ianism  tells  us  of?  By  no 
means.  But  he  beholds  the  heavenly  host  bend- 
ing in  adoration  before  the  one  Divine  Person — 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  he  hears  the  song  that 
bursts  from  their  lips.  What  was  that  song  ? 
"  Worthy  is  the  LAMB  that  was  slain,  to  receive 
power  and  riches  and  wisdom  and  strength  and 
honor  and  glory  and  blessing." 

Plainly,  then,  does  Episcopalianism  contradict 
the  Bible  in  its  first  and  fundamental  Article  of 
religion.  And  its  teaching  on  this  subject  is  as 
contrary  to  reason  as  it  is  to  Scripture.  And  con- 
tradicting the  Bible  on  a  doctrine  so  central  and 
important  as  that  concerning  the  Divine  Being 
himself,  we  should  expect  to  find  its  teachings 
equally  unenlightened  and  contrary  to  Scripture 
on  other  subjects.  And  so  indeed  we  do.  Take, 
for  example,  its  view  of  man's  nature,  as  seen  in 
its  doctrine  of  the  Resurrection. 

The  Episcopalian  does  not  know  that  man  is 
essentially  a  spirit.  He  does  not  know  that  the 


///  ifs   Own  Dress.  29 

soul  is  the  real  man,  and  that  this  is  a  spiritual 
organism,  in  the  human  form,  immortal  in  its 
nature — continuing  to  live,  therefore,  in  its  own 
appropriate  realm  (the  spiritual  world)  after  the 
body  dies.  He  does  not  know  that  the  resurrec- 
tion means  the  rising  of  the  man,  or  the  separa- 
tion of  his  spirit  from  the  material  body  immedi- 
ately after  death,  and  his  conscious  entrance  into 
the  realm  above  matter;  but  he  thinks  it  means  the 
resuscitation  of  the  material  part — the  very  body 
laid  off  at  death — at  some  future  and  (it  may  be) 
far  distant  period.  It  is  the  material  body  that  he 
is  taught  to  think  of,  when  he  says,  "  I  believe  in 
the  resurrection  of  the  body."  One  of  the 
ablest  expounders  of  the  Episcopalian  creed 
(Bishop  Pearson)  says:  "We  can  therefore  no 
otherwise  expound  this  article,  teaching  the  resur- 
rection of  the  body,  than  by  asserting  that  the  bodies 
which  have  lived  and  died  shall  live  again  after 
death,  and  that  the  same  flesh  which  is  corrupted 
shall  be  restored"  (p.  572).  And  again  says  the 
same  distinguished  expositor:  "The  same  flesh 
which  was  separated  from  the  soul  at  the  day  of 
death,  shall  be  united  to  the  soul  at  the  last  day." 


30  Episcopalianism 

"The  same  body,  not  any  other,  shall  be  raised 
to  life,  which  died"  {p.  568). 

So  then,  according  to  the  Episcopalian  creed, 
we  are  to  believe  that  the  identical  particles  com- 
posing men's  material  bodies — even  after  their 
bodies  have  been  eaten  up  by  worms,  fishes,  beasts 
of  prey  or  carrion  birds,  or  borne  upon  the  wings 
of  the  wind  the  wide  world  over,  or  incorporated 
into  other  men's  bodies  (as  is  the  case  where  can- 
nibalism is  practiced) — are  to  be  all  brought  to- 
gether again  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  and  new 
bodies  built  up  from  them  (which  after  all  are 
the  same  old  material  carcasses) — yes,  built  up, 
potter  fashion,  not  evolved  by  any  law  of  growth; 
yet  with  their  ten  thousand  delicate  fibres  and 
tissues  more  perfect  than  ever  !  And  into  these 
new  bodies  constructed  of  the  same  old  materials, 
are  to  be  introduced  (in  some  way  that  Episcopa- 
lianism does  not  attempt  to  explain)  the  souls 
that  have  for  ages  been  mourning  the  loss  of  their 
fleshly  habitations !  We  are  to  believe  that  the 
little  infant,  who  died  within  twenty-four  hours 
after  birth,  is  to  resume  that  same  infantile  body, 
and  (I  suppose)  throughout  the  endless  ages  be 


In  its  Own  Dress.  31 

carried  in  the  arms  and  dandled  upon  the  knees  of 
its  nurse  !  We  are  to  believe  that  that  consump- 
tive mother,  or  deformed  child,  or  poor  cripple, 
or  the  withered  and  emaciated  saint  of  ninety,  is 
to  put  on  again,  or  be  again  thrust  into,  that  same 
wasted,  ghastly  and  repulsive  tabernacle  of  flesh  ! 
And  this,  forsooth,  is  the  glorious  doctrine  of  the 
Resurrection  which  Episcopalianism  has  to  offer 
us,  as  we  draw  near  the  gate  of  death,  or  as  the 
worn  and  wasted  form  of  some  loved  one  is  laid 
beneath  the  sod  !  This  the  doctrine  which  sober 
and  rational  men  and  women  are  gravely  asked  to 
accept  as  the  revealed  truth  of  God  !  Why,  if 
such  a  doctrine  were  presented  to-day  for  the  first 
time  before  any  intelligent  assembly,  it  would  be 
flouted  as  the  sheerest  drivel  and  nonsense. 

And  here,  as  on  other  subjects,  Episcopalian- 
ism  contradicts  the  teaching  of  Jesus  and  the 
apostles,  as  plainly  as  it  does  the  intuitions  of 
reason.  "  Now  that  the  dead,"  says  our  Saviour, 
"  are  raised  [not  wilt  be  raised  at  some  future  and 
remote  period],  even  Moses  showed  at  the  bush, 
when  he  called  the  Lord  the  God  of  Abraham 
and  the  God  of  Isaac  and  the  God  of  Jacob :  for 


32  Episcopalianism 

He  is  not  a  God  of  the  dead -but  of  the  living  ; 
for  to  Him  all  are  living."  Not  only  does  the 
Saviour  here  teach  that  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob 
are  still  living,  but  that  they  have  actually  attained 
unto  the  resurrection  ;  for  the  resurrection  was  the 
very  question  under  discussion  when  he  used  this 
language.  What  presumption,  then,  for  any  body 
of  people  professing  to  be  the  disciples  of  Christ, 
to  believe  or  teach  any  doctrine  on  this  subject 
different  from  that  taught  by  the  Master  himself! 

Then  Moses  and  Elias,  centuries  after  their 
death,  were  beheld  in  vision  (in  the  spiritual 
world,  of  course)  on  the  Mount  of  Transfigura- 
tion, in  the  human  form,  and  "talking  with 
Jesus;"  showing  that  they  also  were  not  less  alive 
than  when  living  in  the  flesh — that  they  also  had 
experienced  the  resurrection. 

And  nowhere  does  the  Bible  teach  any  such 
doctrine  of  the  resurrection  as  is  taught,  or  sol- 
emnly declared  and  confessed,  by  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  more  than  a  hundred  times  a 
year.  How  plainly,  too,  does  this  Church  con- 
tradict the  prince  of  the  apostles  on  this  subject ! 
"Hut  some,"  savs  Paul,  "will  sav,  How  are  the 


In  its  Own  Dress.  33 

dead  raised  up?  and  with  what  body  do  they 
come  ?  Fool !  That  which  thou  sowest  is  not 
quickened,  except  it  die.  And  that  which  thou 
sowest,  thou  sowest  not  that  body  that  shall  be," 
etc.  And  he  concludes  his  argument  with  these 
words:  "A  natural  body  is  sown;  a  spiritual 
body  is  raised.  [This  is  the  correct  translation  of 
the  original.]  There  is  a  natural  body  and  there 
is  a  spiritual  body."  Could  anything  be  plainer? 
Yet  very  different  is  this  Apostolic  doctrine  from 
that  absurd  notion  taught  by  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church. 

Equally  unenlightened  is  this  Church  in  regard 
to  our  Saviour's  resurrection — holding  and  teach- 
ing that  He  rose  and  ascended  into  heaven  with 
his  material  flesh  and  bones ;  and  that  He  still 
has,  and  for  ever  will  have,  the  same  material 
body.  "Christ,"  says  Article  iv.,  "did  truly  rise 
again  from  death,  and  took  again  his  body,  with 
flesh,  bones  and  all  things  appertaining  to  the 
perfection  of  man's  nature  [as  if  the  dust  of  the 
earth  could  add  anything  to  the  perfection  of 
man's  nature !]  wherewith  he  ascended  into 
heaven  and  there  sitteth,  until  he  return  to  judge 
C 


34  Episcopalianism 

all  men  at  the  last  day."  Then  our  Lord,  now 
in  heaven,  has  a  material  body.  Then  heaven 
must  be  a  material  place.  And  so  a  spiritual  world 
is  plainly  denied — by  implication,  at  least — and  we 
have  nothing  left  us  but  gross  materialism. 

But  see,  again,  the  absurdity  of  Episcopalian- 
ism  !  the  unutterable  confusion  in  which  the  sys- 
tem is  involved  !  For  it  professes  to  believe  in 
the  Divinity  of  Christ.  It  calls  him  God ;  and 
God,  says  Article  ist,  is  "without  body,  parts  or 
passions."  Yet  in  Article  iv.  it  not  only  teaches 
that  God  (one  of  its  Gods,  at  least)  has  a  body, 
but  a  material  body — the  very  body  that  hung 
upon  the  cross.  Whereas  the  Bible  teaches  that 
"God  is  a  Spirit ;"  and  that  the  Son — the  Human- 
ity assumed  in  time — was  glorified,  made  all  Di- 
vine even  to  his  flesh  and  bones. 

Again ;  Episcopalianism  contradicts  the  Bible 
on  the  great  and  momentous  subject  of  human 
salvation.  "  That  we  are  justified  by  faith  only," 
says  Article  xi.,  "  is  a  most  wholesome  doctrine, 
and  very  full  of  comfort."  To  be  justified,  of 
course,  is  to  be  saved — to  be  made  righteous, 
just,  holy,  free  from  evil  and  sinful  proclivities. 


///  its  Own  Dress.  35 

And  this,  says  the  "Article,"  is  done  "by  faith 
only,"  that  is  by  merely  believing  the  gospel  of 
Christ.  For  faith  is  the  assent  of  the  understanding 
to  the  truth  of  what  is  taught.  It  is  belief.  And 
to  teach,  as  Episcopal ianism  does,  that  we  are 
justified  and  saved  "by  faith  only"  is  to  betray 
an  utter  lack  of  the  true  Christian  idea  of  both 
the  nature  and  way  of  salvation.  And  to  lack 
this,  is  to  lack  knowledge  on  a  fundamental  doc- 
trine of  Christianity.  To  teach  that  we  are  justi- 
fied and  saved  by  faith  only,  were  the  same  as  to 
say  that  a  person  may  be  healed  of  a  physical 
malady  by  simply  believing  in  the  medical  know- 
ledge and  skill  of  his  physician,  and  without  fol- 
lowing his  directions  or  taking  his  medicine. 
This  is  very  far  from  the  Scripture  doctrine  of 
justification.  The  heavenly  life — the  life  of  un- 
selfish love  (and  whosoever  has  this,  is  surely 
justified) — is  developed  or  built  up  within  the 
soul,  not  by  faith  alone,  or  by  merely  beliei'ing  in 
the  Lord  and  his  Word,  but  by  believing  and 
doing  the  truth.  Hence  we  find  charity  and  good 
works  more  frequently  mentioned  and  more 
strongly  emphasized  in  the  Bible,  as  conducive 


36  Episcopalianism 

to  salvation,  than  faith.  "  Not  every  one  that  saith 
unto  me,  Lord,  Lord,"  says  our  Saviour,  "shall 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  but  he  that 
doeth  the  will  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven." 
"Whosoever  heareth  these  sayings  of  mine,  and 
doeth  them,  I  will  liken  him  unto  a  wise  man," 
etc.  "Whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of  my  Father 
which  is  in  heaven,  the  same  is  my  brother  and 
sister  and  mother."  "Ye  are  my  friends  if  ye 
do  whatsoever  I  command  you."  "My  reward 
is  with  me,  to  give  every  man  according  as  his 
-work  shall  be." 

Moreover,  love  is  presented  clearly  in  the  Bible 
as  paramount  to  faith.  The  sum  of  all  that  the 
law  and  the  prophets  teach,  is  declared  to  be  love 
to  the  Lord  and  the  neighbor.  And  one  of  the 
apostles  assures  us  that  "love  is  the  fulfilling  of 
the  law,"  and  another  says:  "If  we  love  one 
another,  God  dwelleth  in  us."  "He  that  dwell- 
eth  in  love,  dwelleth  in  God  and  God  in  him." 
"And  this  is  love,  that  we  walk  according  to  his 
commandments."  And  Paul  says:  "Though  I 
have  all  faith,  so  that  I  could  remove  mountains, 
and  have  not  charity  [love],  I  am  nothing" — no 


///  its  Own  Dress.  37 

Christian — not  justified  or  saved.  "And  now 
abideth  faith,  hope,  charity — these  three;  but  the 
greatest  of  these  is  charity." 

So  clearly  and  unmistakably  does  Episcopa- 
lianism  contradict  the  teachings  of  the  Bible, 
when  it  declares  that  "we  are  justified  by  faith 


But  why  dwell  upon  or  recite  the  preposterous 
dogmas  of  this  church?  Only  that  the  true 
character  of  the  system  may  appear — a  system 
which  every  one  professes  to  receive  who  accepts 
the  Thirty-nine  Articles.  You  may  possibly  be 
told,  however,  that  there  is  no  obligation  to  re- 
ceive all  of  these  Articles;  that  some  of  them 
may  not  be  exactly  true ;  that  Fpiscopalianism 
does  not  rest  on  their  authority,  but  commends 
itself  by  its  own  harmony  and  beauty.  (We 
doubt  if  any  sane  person,  not  yet  blinded  by  the 
delusion,  would  say  this.)  On  that  supposition 
it  stands  on  the  same  level  with  all  speculations  ; 
and  this  is  a  day  in  which  many  speculations  are 
sent  forth  far  more  inviting  than  these;  and  we 
are  free  to  say  that  the  system  does  not  display 
any  such  superior  wisdom  as  should  entitle  it  to 

4 


38  Episcopalianism 

a  preference  above  speculations  which  any  ordi- 
nary mind  is  quite  competent  to  originate  in  its 
idlest  moments.  But  no ;  when  the  authority  of 
the  Prayer  Book  and  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  is 
set  aside,  the  whole  fabric  sinks  into  dust  and  con- 
fusion. If  there  be  any  who,  taking  the  name  of 
Protestant  Episcopalians,  would  shape  their  doc- 
trines and  practice  simply  by  their  own  judgment 
and  fancy,  and  in  entire  freedom  from  the  author- 
ity of  the  Prayer  Book  and  the  Articles,  wherein 
is  that  better  than  simple  Deism  ? 

But  now  let  us  advance  to  a  higher  charge  than 
that  of  false  teaching.  The  system  known  as 
Episcopalianism  is  not  only  absurd  and  contra- 
dictory to  the  Word  of  God,  but  its  doctrines 
(some  of  them  at  least)  are  derogatory  to  the  cha- 
racter of  our  Heavenly  Father,  and  pernicious  and 
degrading  in  their  moral  tendency.  Take,  for  ex- 
ample, Article  ii.,  in  which  it  is  said  that  the  Son, 
"  begotten  from  everlasting  (?)  of  the  Father" — 
"truly  suffered,  was  crucified,  dead  and  buried, 
to  reconcile  his  Father  to  us;"  or  Article  xxxi., 
wherein  we  read:  "The  offering  of  Christ  once 
made  is  that  perfect  redemption,  propitiation,  and 


///  its  Own  Drtss.  39 

satisfaction  for  all  the  sins  of  the  whole  world, 
both  original  and  actual ;  and  there  is  none  other 
satisfaction  for  sin  but  that  alone."  Is  the  Heav- 
enly Father,  then,  such  a  Being  as  Episcopalian- 
ism  would  have  us  believe? — full  of  anger  toward 
sinners,  and  needing  to  be  appeased,  "propi- 
tiated," "satisfied,"  "  reconciled  to  us?"  Is  He 
so  unpitying  and  relentless  that  He  will  not  for- 
give a  sinning  creature  on  the  simple  condition 
of  repentance,  but  will  have  full  satisfaction  for 
his  violated  law  from  somebody — if  not  from  the 
sinner  himself,  then  from  some  one  else,  who 
freely  offers  to  suffer  in  his  stead?  Is  He  so  re- 
gardless of  the  rule  of  justice  as  to  allow  an  inno- 
cent one  to  suffer  in  lieu  of  the  guilty,  and  to 
remit  on  such  condition  the  threatened  punish- 
ment ?  Episcopalian  ism  answers,  Yes.  Hear 
how  one  of  its  most  learned  expositors  (Bishop 
Pearson)  explains  the  creed  touching  the  Articles 
just  cited  : 

"The  punishment  which  Christ  who  is  our 
surety,  endured,  was  a  full  satisfaction  to  the  will 
and  justice  of  God  .  .  .  Christ,  offering  himself 
a  sacrifice  for  sin,  giveth  that  unto  God  for  and 


4O  Episcopalianism 

instead  of  the  eternal  death  of  man,  which  is  more 
valuable  and  acceptable  to  God  than  that  death 
could  be,  and  so  maketh  a  sufficient  compensation 
and  full  satisfaction  for  the  sins  of  man ;  which 
God  accepting  becometh  reconciled  unto  us,  and 
for  the  punishment  which  Christ  endured,  taketh 
off  our  obligation  to  eternal  punishment."  (Ex- 
position of  the  Creed,  p.  547.) 

Episcopalianism  has  here  introduced  an  old 
Pagan  doctrine,  making  God  a  vengeful  Being, 
yet  willing  to  be  placated  by  blood  and  suffering. 
It  exhibits  the  Heavenly  Father,  not  as  compas- 
sionate and  forgiving,  but  severe  and  exacting  ; — 
as  unwilling  to  forgive  his  erring  children  simply 
on  their  repentance,  but  insisting  that  the  full 
penalty  of  transgression  shall  be  paid — if  not  by 
the  transgressors  themselves,  then  by  a  substitute 
who  is  himself  perfectly  innocent.  It  represents 
Him  as  capable  of  being  bought  off — placated — 
by  a  bloody  offering;  as  willing  to  accept  nothing 
less  than  the  suffering  and  death  of  his  own  Son. 
It  also  represents  Him  as  guilty  of  the  double 
injustice,  first,  of  allowing  an  innocent  being  to 
suffer  the  punishment  due  to  transgressors;  and 


///  its  Own  Dress.  41 

second,  of  exacting  of  these  same  transgressors  a 
still  further  penalty  unless  they  believe  and  repent. 
Surely  the  tendency  of  such  a  doctrine  cannot  be 
otherwise  than  demoralizing  and  pernicious.  All 
right  ideas  of  justice  are  utterly  confounded  by 
the  view  herein  presented  of  the  Divine  justice. 
For  where  is  the  justice  in  requiring  or  permitting 
a  perfectly  innocent  being  to  suffer  in  lieu  of  the 
guilty  ?  Or  where  is  the  justice  in  becoming  rec- 
onciled to  the  guilty,  because  an  innocent  being 
has  paid  the  penalty  which  their  transgressions 
merited? 

Then  it  is  a  part  of  this  same  doctrine,  that  a 
person  may  lead  a  most  wicked  life,  and  finally 
end  his  days  upon  the  gallows ;  but  if,  an  hour 
before  he  meets  a  felon's  doom,  he  accepts  this 
doctrine — believes  with  all  his  heart  that  the  blood 
of  Christ  has  paid  the  penalty  due  to  his  trans- 
gressions, his  sins  will  all  be  blotted  out,  he  will 
become  a  partaker  in  the  benefits  of  the  great 
atonement,  receive  a  full  pardon  for  all  his  trans- 
gressions, and  pass  straight  from  the  gallows  into 
the  society  of  the  blessed.  Can  a  doctrine  which 
encourages  such  a  belief  or  justifies  such  a  con- 


42  Episcopalianism, 

elusion,  and  at  the  same  time  confounds  all  our 
ideas  of  justice,  exert  any  other  than  a  most  per- 
nicious influence  upon  the  minds  and  hearts  of 
those  who  accept  it  ? 

What  utter  misconception,  too,  of  the  real  na- 
ture of  sin,  and  how  it  is  to  be  removed  and  the 
soul  restored  to  a  state  of  spiritual  health  and 
order,  does  this  doctrine  disclose  ! 

And  here  we  dismiss  the  Prayer  Book  and 
Thirty-nine  Articles ;  having  shown  that  Episco- 
palianism, in  its  teachings  upon  some  of  the  most 
vital  questions  of  our  religion,  is  alike  repugnant 
to  reason  and  revelation.  And  any  system  whose 
central  ideas  are  wrong,  must  be  utterly  unworthy 
of  respect  and  confidence  when  viewed  as  a 
whole.  But  not  just  yet  do  we  dismiss  the  subject 
in  hand. 

The  huge  heap  of  error  which  Episcopalianism 
covers  or  embodies,  has  arisen  largely  from  a 
fundamentally  wrong  idea  of  the  nature  of  the 
written  Word,  added  to  an  excessive  veneration 
for  antiquity  and  for  the  opinions  of  men  who 
lived  and  wrote  in  a  comparatively  dark  age.  It 
holds  that  "  the  plain,  natural  and  obvious  mean- 


///  its  Own  Dress.  43 

ing"  of  the  Bible,  is  its  true  and  only  meaning 
(See  Bishop  Burgess'  Pamphlet  on  SWEDENBOR- 
GIANISM,  p.  28)  ;  or,  as  one  of  its  learned  commen- 
tators says  :  "In  the  Interpretation  of  Holy  Scrip- 
ture, that  sense  which  is  nearest  the  letter  is  com- 
monly the  safest."  And  the  idea  that  the  inspired 
Word  contains  a  deeper  meaning  than  that  of 
the  letter— even  a  spiritual  sense  throughout — is 
flouted.  (See  the  above-named  pamphlet?)  From  this 
fundamental  falsity,  what  else  could  be  expected 
to  issue  but  dark  and  muddy  waters  ?  Episcopa- 
lianism  seems  not  to  recognize  the  fact  that  the 
Lord's  words  "  are  spirit  and  life,"  and  are,  there- 
fore, to  be  spiritually  interpreted.  It  forgets,  too, 
what  the  apostle  says,  "  The  letter  killeth,  but 
the  spirit  giveth  life."  It  seems  not  to  know  that 
the  Bible  is  a  book  of  divine  symbols;  and  that 
its  richest  nutriment — richest  to  souls  hungering 
after  truth  and  righteousness — its  greatest  wealth 
of  meaning  lies  underneath  the  letter,  or  within 
it  as  the  soul  is  within  the  body.  It  forgets  that 
the  Lord  spake  all  things  in  parables,  "  and  with- 
out a  parable  spake  He  not."  It  forgets,  also, 
that,  in  every  instance  in  which  He  himself  ex- 


44  Episcopalianism 

plains  a  parable,  He  departs  entirely  from  the 
Episcopalian  canon  of  interpretation,  and  gives 
a  spiritual  meaning  to  every  natural  object  men- 
tioned in  the  parable.  Take,  for  example,  his  ex- 
planation of  the  parable  of  the  sower.  He  here 
gives  a  spiritual  meaning  to  every  object  men- 
tioned— the  seed,  the  way-side,  the  stony  and 
thorny  places,  and  the  good  ground  also  upon 
which  the  seed  fell.  He  explains  them  all  in  a 
spiritual  manner,  showing  them  to  mean  the  dif- 
ferent moral  or  spiritual  states  of  those  to  whom 
heavenly  truths  are  communicated.  And  the 
fowls,  the  sun  and  the  thorns  He  also  uses  in  a 
symbolic  sense,  to  denote  the  false  persuasions 
and  evil  loves  of  the  natural  man,  which  destroy 
in  various  ways  (signified  by  devouring,  parching 
and  choking)  the  principles  of  heaven  before  they 
have  become  thoroughly  rooted  in  the  affections, 
or  have  attained  a  strong  and  healthy  growth. 

So,  again,  in  his  explanation  of  the  parable  of 
the  tares  and  the  wheat.  Nothing  here  is  literally 
interpreted — not  a  thing.  The  field,  the  world, 
the  good  seed,  the  tares,  the  sowing,  the  harvest, 
the  reapers,  all  have  a  spiritual  meaning  given 


In  its  Own  Dress.  45 

them  by  the  Great  Teacher.  His  words  like  his 
works  are  all  symbolic.  It  is  said  that  He  spake 
all  things  by  parables,  and  without  a  parable  spake 
He  not.  And  if  He  always  spoke  in  parables 
when  He  tabernacled  in  the  flesh,  or  when  He 
spoke  through  the  natural  humanity  that  He  as- 
sumed in  time,  can  we  suppose  Him  to  have 
spoken  in  any  other  way  when  He  spoke  through 
other  mediums — through  patriarchs,  prophets  and 
apostles? 

Furthermore :  after  his  resurrection,  our  Lord 
appeared  to  two  of  his  disciples  on  their  way  to 
Emrnaus;  "and  beginning  at  Moses  and  all  the 
prophets,  He  expounded  unto  them  in  all  the 
Scriptures  the  things  concerning  himself."  And 
when  He  had  vanished  from  their  sight,  they  said 
one  to  another,  "  Did  not  our  hearts  burn  within 
us  while  He  talked  with  us  by  the  way,  and  while 
He  opened  to  us  the  Scriptures?"  And  again, 
after  his  second  appearance  to  them,  it  is  added  : 
"Then  opened  He  their  understanding,  that  they 
might  understand  the  Scriptures."  Strange  lan- 
guage, indeed,  is  this — and  utterly  meaningless — 
if  the  theory  of  Episcopalianism  in  regard  to  the 


46  Episcopalianism 

Scriptures  be  the  true  one.  If  there  be  no  other 
meaning  to  the  Scriptures  than  that  which  lies  on 
the  surface,  or  if  their  plain,  obvious,  literal  sense 
be  their  true  and  only  sense,  what  could  the  in- 
spired penman  have  meant  by  the  Lord's  opening 
the  Scriptures  to  his  disciples?  or  by  his  "  opening 
their  understanding  that  they  might  understand 
the  Scriptures?"  But  when  it  is  known  that  there 
is  an  inner  or  spiritual  sense  to  the  written  Word — 
a  sense  which  the  unillumined  natural  understand- 
ing does  not  discern — then  this  language  becomes 
intelligible.  The  Scriptures  can  be  opened  because 
they  contain,  in  addition  to  their  outward  and 
natural  sense,  an  inner  and  spiritual  meaning.  A 
casket  may  be  opened,  and  its  contents  be  then 
disclosed ;  but  however  beautiful  the  casket  itself 
may  be,  it  is  as  nothing  in  comparison  with  the 
precious  jewels  deposited  within.  So,  precisely, 
in  regard  to  the  written  Word.  There  is  much 
of  truth  and  beauty  in  the  letter ;  but  its  richest 
gems,  its  exhaustless  stores  of  wealth,  lie  deep 
within.  Mercifully  does  the  Lord  conceal  the 
most  precious  things  of  his  kingdom  from  the  eyes 
of  natural  men — from  the  worldly  wise  and  pru- 


In  its  Own  Dress.  47 

dent — but  reveals  them  always  "unto  babes;" 
that  is,  unto  the  innocent  and  humble-minded 
ones  who  are  willing  to  receive  instruction  from 
and  to  be  led  by  Him. 

How  different,  too,  from  the  teaching  of  Epis- 
copalianism  was  that  of  the  apostles  on  this  sub- 
ject! "Our  sufficiency,"  says  Paul,  "is  of  God; 
who  also  hath  made  us  able  ministers  of  the  New 
Testament ;  not  of  the  Utter,  but  of  the  spirit;  for 
the  letter  killeth,  but  the  spirit  giveth  life."  Again 
the  same  great  apostle  says:  "For  he  is  not  a  Jew 
who  is  one  outwardly;  neither  is  that  circumcision 
which  is  outward  in  the  flesh ;  but  he  is  a  Jew  who 
is  one  inwardly;  and  circumcision  is  that  of  the 
heart,  in  the  spirit,  and  not  in  the  letter" — which 
passage  shows  that  the  apostle  recognized  an  in- 
ward and  spiritual  Judaism,  and  an  inward  and 
spiritual  circumcision.  Again,  speaking  of  the 
two  sons  of  Abraham,  one  by  the  bondmaid,  the 
other  by  the  free  woman,  he  says:  "These  are 
the  two  covenants ;"  one  of  which,  he  goes  on  to 
remark,  "answereth  to  Jerusalem  which  now  is, 
and  is  in  bondage  with  her  children.  But  Jerusa- 
lem which  is  above  is  free,  which  is  the  mother  of 


48  Episcopalianism. 

us  all."  The  same  apostle  also  speaks  of  the 
journey  of  the  Israelites  through  the  wilderness 
as  though  it  were  replete  with  spiritual  wisdom, 
and  adds:  " They  did  all  eat  the  same  spiritual 
meat;  and  did  all  drink  the  same  spiritual  drink ; 
for  they  drank  of  that  spiritual  rock  that  followed 
them  :  and  that  rock  was  Christ." 

And  the  early  Christian  Fathers,  those  who  lived 
and  wrote  before  Christianity  became  much  cor- 
rupted, acknowledged  a  spiritual  as  well  as  a  nat- 
ural sense  to  the  Scriptures.  "Our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,"  says  Augustine,  "intended  that  those 
miracles  which  He  wrought  on  the  bodies  of  men, 
should  also  be  understood  spiritually."  "The 
law  of  God,"  says  Ignatius,  "is  spiritual;  and 
they  have  not  the  true  law  who  do  not  take  it 
spiritually."  "Whatsoever,"  says  Jerome,  "is 
promised  to  the  Israelites  carnally,  we  show,  will 
at  one  time  or  another  be  fulfilled  in  us  spirit- 
ually." Says  Theophilus,  Bishop  of  Antioch : 
"By  this  marriage  [of  Cana  in  Galilee]  the  con- 
junction of  Christ  and  his  Church  is  to  be  under- 
stood." John,  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  says:  "He 
who  follows  the  letter  of  the  Scripture,  and  re- 


In  its   Oum  Dress.  49 

mains  exclusively  in  the  valley,  cannot  see  Jesus 
clothed  in  white  raiment ;  but  he  who  follows  the 
Word  of  God  up  the  mountain,  that  is,  he  who 
ascends  to  the  sublime  sense  of  the  Law,  to  him 
Jesus  is  transfigured.  So  "long  as  we  follow  the 
obscurity  of  the  letter,  Moses  and  Elias  do  not  talk 
with  Jesus ;  but  if  we  understand  it  spiritually, 
then  straightway  Moses  and  Elias,  that  is,  the  Law 
and  the  Prophets,  come  and  converse  with  the 
Gospel."  Pamphilius  says:  "Though  these  things 
[in  the  four  Evangelists]  have  a  spiritual  meaning, 
yet  the  truth  of  the  history  being  first  established, 
the  spiritual  sense  is  to  be  taken  as  something  over 
and  above."  And  Origen — whom  Dr.  Mosheim 
tells  us  "was  a  man  of  vast  and  uncommon  abili- 
ties, and  the  greatest  luminary  of  the  Christian 
world  that  this  age  [third  century]  exhibited  to 
view,  and  whose  name  will  be  transmitted  with 
honor  through  the  annals  of  time  as  long  as  learn- 
ing and  genius  shall  be  esteemed  among  men" — 
Origen,  in  his  fifth  Homily  on  Leviticus,  remarks: 
"As,  therefore,  a  mutual  affinity  exists  between 
things  visible  and  invisible,  earth  and  heaven,  soul 
and  flesh,  body  and  spirit,  and  of  combinations 

5  D 


50  Episcopalianisrn 

of  these  is  made  up  this  present  world,  so  also 
holy  Scripture,  we  may  believe,  is  made  up  of  vis- 
ible and  invisible  parts;  first,  as  it  were,  of  a  kind 
of  body,  that  is,  of  the  letter  which  we  see  with  our 
eyes ;  next,  of  a  soul,  that  is,  of  the  sense  which 
is  discovered  within  that  letter." 

"Such,"  says  a  learned  English  author,  "had 
been  the  line  of  interpretation  which  the  Fathers 
of  the  first  age,  by  a  kind  of  sacred  instinct, 
adopted  from  the  beginning."  But  how  far  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  of  to-day  has  drifted 
away  from  this  early  teaching,  is  obvious  to  every 
one  familiar  with  the  generally  accepted  theory  of 
that  Church  in  regard  to  the  Scriptures. 

I  say,  therefore — and  the  reader  shall  judge 
whether  my  words  be  those  of  truth  and  sober- 
ness— that  Episcopalianism,  in  maintaining  the 
"one-sense,"  or  the  "  plain-and-obvious-mean- 
ing,"  theory  in  regard  to  the  Scriptures,  plainly 
contradicts  the  teaching  of  our  Lord,  of  the 
apostles,  and  of  all  the  most  learned  and  illus- 
trious of  the  early  Christian  Fathers.  And  erring 
so  widely  upon  a  point  so  fundamental  as  that  in 
regard  to  the  nature  of  the  written  Word,  and  how 


///  its  Ou'n  Dress.  51 

its  true  meaning  is  to  be  elicited,  no  wonder  that 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  of  to-day  should 
be  in  the  thick  darkness  that  it  is  on  nearly  every 
subject  pertaining  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  No 
wonder  that  some  of  its  best  men,  perceiving  the 
darkness,  should  begin  to  cry  out  in  the  language 
of  the  prophet:  "We  wait  for  light,  but  behold 
obscurity  ;  for  brightness,  but  we  walk  in  darkness. 
We  grope  for  the  wall  like  the  blind,  and  we  grope 
as  if  we  had  no  eyes ;  we  stumble  at  noon-day  as 
in  the  night ;  we  are  in  desolate  places  as  dead." 
One  of  its  ablest  ministers,  upon  whose  mind  has 
begun  to  dawn  the  glad  and  gloriows  light  of 
the  New  Morning,  says  in  a  recently  published 
work  : 

"The  'instrument'  by  which  the  Scripture, 
especially  since  the  Reformation,  has  been  made 
to  mean  anything  or  nothing,  is  that  very  rule  of 
'  Criticism,'  which,  without  warrant  and  at  its  own 
pleasure,  restricts  the  infinite  spiritual  meaning  of 
Scripture  to  one — and  that  the  natural — from 
which,  as  the  facts  of  Church  History  prove,  have 
been  deduced  all  kinds  of  fallacies,  and  every 
form  of  heresy  and  falsity." 


5  2  Episcopalianism 

And  the  same  thoughtful  writer,  near  the  close 
of  his  book,  says  again  : 

"A  crisis  has  come" — "Not  only  are  Creeds 
and  confessions  of  the  Christian  Faith,  like  so 
many  other  institutions  in  the  present  day,  on 
their  trial ;  but  unhappily,  to  a  serious  extent,  even 
Christianity  itself.  .  .  .  The  whole  sdbject  of 
Fundamental  Theology  must,  at  no  distant  period, 
be  approached  with  the  utmost  frankness  on  every 
side.  The  controversy,  in  the  last  resort,  will 
perhaps  be  found  to  lie  mainly  between  those  who 
do,  and  those  who  do  not,  believe  the  WORD  OF 
GOD.  .  .  .  The  '  dead  letter'  must  give  place  to 
the  living  spirit.  Much  that  has  hitherto  ap- 
peared to  many  as  the  obvious  meaning  of  Divine 
Revelation,  is  destined,  in  the  light  of  the  Word 
itself,  to  be  subjected  to  a  searching  analysis,  and 
shown  to  be  only  a  fallacious  appearance.  And 
the  inner,  the  genuine,  sense  of  Holy  Writ  will 
doubtless  be  eliminated  by  the  aid  of  just,  legiti- 
mate, and  spiritual  principles  of  interpretation;  so 
that  heavenly  truth  may  be  seen  and  set  forth  in 
clear  intellectual  light." 

"A  crisis  has  come."     Certainly,  one  would 


///  its  Oii>n  Drfss.  53 

think  so,  when  a  high  dignitary — a  RIGHT  REV- 
EREND— in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
has  become  so  immersed  in  spiritual  darkness  as 
to  quote,  in  evidence  of  Swedenborg's  manifest 
delusion,  these  words :  "The  rich  come  into  heaven 
as  easily  as  the  poor."  And  to  show  that  this 
teaching  "is  directly  in  the  face"  of  what  is 
plainly  taught  in  the  Bible,  this  Bishop  quotes  the 
words  of  our  Lord,  where  He  says :  "  It  is  easier 
for  a  camel  to  go  through  the  eye  of  a  needle, 
than  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
God."  And  as  the  RT.  REV.  gentleman  saw,  as 
every  body  else  sees,  that  a  camel  cannot  go 
through  the  eye  of  a  needle,  so  his  conclusion,  of 
course,  was,  that  a  rich  man  cannot  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  God.  According  to  this  canon  of 
interpretation,  a  rich  man  must  first  part  with  all 
his  wealth —  must  /iff  rally  "fit  and  sell  3\\  that  he 
has,  and  give  to  the  poor."  And  this,  of  course, 
(according  to  the  theory)  would  be  doing  irrepar- 
able wrong  and  injury  to  the  i>oor ;  for  it  would 
make  them  rich,  and  thereby  exclude  them  from 
the  kingdom  of  God.  Probably  the  Bishop,  be- 
fogged by  his  long  and  close  adherence  to  the 


54  Episeopalianism 

one-obvious-literal-sense  theory,  was  unable  to 
see  so  far  as  this;  and  possibly  the  "Protestant 
Episcopal  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Evange- 
lical Knowledge"  who  have  endorsed  his  teaching 
on  this  subject,  are  in  the  same  obscuring  mist. 
But  strange  that  neither  of  the  parties  should  have 
seen  what,  according  to  this  literal  interpretation 
of  the  Scripture,  must  be  the  inevitable  fate  of  a 
very  large  number  of  persons  in  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church.  For  in  England  nearly  all 
the  richest  men  and  women  (the  queen  herself 
included)  are  members  of  this  church  ;  and  in  our 
own  country,  it  probably  contains  more  wealthy 
people  than  any  other  communion — more  rich 
than  poor.  And  the  cases  in  which  these  rich 
Churchmen  literally  go  and  sell  all  that  they  have, 
and  give  the  proceeds  to  the  poor,  are — well,  I 
should  say,  not  very  numerous. 

And  where,  I  wonder — if  this  rule  of  interpreta- 
tion be  accepted — will  some  of  the  RIGHT  REVER- 
ENDS themselves  be  found  in  the  day  of  judgment  ? 

See  what  absurd  notions  have  been  accepted 
and  clung  to  as  the  truth  of  God,  and  confirmed 
by  the  professed  expounders  of  the  Word,  because 


In  its  Own  Dress.  55 

of  this  erroneous  theory  that  the  Scripture  has  but 
one  sense,  and  that  the  plain,  obvious,  literal  sense ! 
It  is  from  accepting  and  adhering  to  this  theory, 
that  so  many  have  been  led  to  believe  that  God  is 
really  the  angry,  vengeful,  jealous,  vindictive 
Being  that  He  is  sometimes  represented  in  the  let- 
ter of  the  Word;  that  He  is  fickle  and  changeable 
— sometimes  repenting  like  a  poor  fallible  mortal, 
grieving  that  He  should  have  done  as  He  did  ; 
that  the  material  universe,  with  its  myriad  suns  and 
planets,  was  created  in  six  days  of  twenty-four 
hours  each  ;  and  that,  at  the  end  of  the  week,  the 
Creator  literally  rested  from  his  labor,  as  a  tired 
mechanic  rests  when  his  week's  work  is  done ; 
that  He  placed  the  first  human  pair  in  the  midst 
of  a  beautiful  garden,  wherein  was  one  tree  laden 
with  tempting  fruit  which  they  were  forbidden, 
on  pain  of  death,  to  taste  or  touch ;  that  a  ser- 
j>ent,  endued  with  extraordinary  powers  of  per- 
suasion, once  caught  the  ear  of  Eve  and  induced 
her  to  pluck  and  eat  that  forbidden  fruit ;  that 
she  then  persuaded  Adam  to  do  likewise,  and  he 
ate  with  her;  that  both  of  them,  contrary  to  the 
divine  promise  (for  death  was  promised  as  the 


5  6  Episeopalianism 

penalty  of  disobedience)  were  thereupon  driven 
out  of  the  garden,  and  permitted  to  live  and  bring 
forth  children,  who,  with  the  countless  millions 
that  should  come  after  them,  were  to  bear  the 
tremendous  weight  of  God's  curse ;  that  natural 
death  followed  as  a  consequence  of  Adam's  and 
Eve's  disobedience,  and  that  their  sin  was  imputed 
to  all  their  posterity  ;  that  the  Lord  was  sorry  He 
ever  made  man,  and  therefore,  like  a  poor,  short- 
sighted mortal  who  commits  some  blunder  that 
he  is  ashamed  of,  resolved  on  the  destruction  of 
the  whole  human  race — excepting  Noah  and  his 
family ;  that  He  directed  this  latter  to  build  an 
ark  three  hundred  cubits  long  by  fifty  broad,  which 
he  did ;  that  He  prompted  ftuo  (male  and  female) 
of  all  land  animals — beasts,  birds  and  reptiles — 
to  seek  shelter  in  that  ark  from  the  destroying 
flood  ;  that  He  gave  these  creatures— -just  two  of 
every  kind — a  foreknowledge  of  what  was  about 
to  take  place,  causing  them  to  see  and  know,  be- 
fore the  rain  commenced,  that  this  ark  would  be 
their  place  of  refuge ;  that  He  took  away  from 
wolves,  hyenas,  hawks  and  crocodiles  all  their 
native  ferocity,  and  made  them  suddenly  as  kind 


In  its   Own  Dress.  57 

and  gentle  toward  each  other  as  sucking  lambs ; 
that,  with  their  natures  thus  transformed,  He  sent 
them  marching  two  by  two  into  that  wonderful  ship 
l>efore  the  windows  of  heaven  were  opened  or  the 
storm  commenced ;  that  they  remained  there, 
pent  up  within  an  enclosure  five  hundred  feet  by 
ninety — with  food  for  them  all  sufficient  to  last 
one  hundred  and  fifty  days — a  loving,  peaceful, 
happy  family,  not  a  sheep  nor  a  dove  molested  by 
wolf  or  hawk ! 

Nor  is  this  all — no,  nor  a  hundredth  part — of 
the  absurd  and  impossible  things  which  the  literal 
"one-sense"  theory,  sanctioned  and  upheld  by 
Episcopalianism,  requires  us  to  believe,  or  else 
deny  to  the  Scriptures  any  proper  divine  inspira- 
tion, and  cast  them  aside  as  belonging  to  the  rub- 
bish of  a  by-gone  age. 

And  what  is  the  consequence?  Precisely  what 
we  might  expect.  A  covert  and  wide-spread  and 
deep-seated  skepticism  is  being  fostered  in  the 
bosom  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  Dis- 
honesty and  hypocrisy  are  produced  in  many,  who 
have  sense  enough  to  see  the  errors  and  absurd- 
ities embraced  in  the  system,  but  not  independence 


58  Episcopalianism 

or  moral  stamina  enough  to  openly  avow  their 
honest  convictions.  Some  of  its  illustrious  schol- 
ars and  teachers  are  drifting  into  Arianism  and 
naturalism  and  Deism ;  beginning  to  doubt  and 
openly  deny  the  proper  Divinity  of  the  Saviour, 
and  the  Divinity  and  inspiration  of  the  Sacred 
Scripture.  And  many  are  seeking  to  conceal  their 
lack  of  an  intelligent,  earnest,  living  faith,  by  in- 
creased attention  to  outward  forms  and  ceremonies 
— by  millinery  and  posturing  and  chorister-boys, 
and  other  shows  far  more  befitting  the  spectacular 
devices  and  doings  of  the  play-house  than  the 
solemn  services  of  the  sanctuary.  To  quote  here 
a  few  passages  by  way  of  illustration. 

"In  some  places  of  our  Prayer  Book,"  says 
Bishop  Colenso,  "  especially  in  the  Litany,  there 
are  words  of  prayer  addressed  to  Christ  himself. 
.  .  .  And  there  are  two  collects  in  which  the  same 
phenomenon  occurs,  etc.  .  .  .  But  the  whole  spirit 
of  the  Prayer  Book  is  against  the  practice.  There 

are  a  hundred  and  eighty  collects  and  prayers  alto- 

« 

gether,  and  of  this  whole  number  two  only  (or  it 
may  be  three)  have  this  peculiarity." 

And  Rev.  Thomas  Murray  Gorman,  a  clergy- 


///  its   Own  Dress.  59 

man  of  the  Church  of  England,  remarking  on 
the  foregoing  paragraph,  says:  "A  sufficient  ac- 
quaintance with  this  subject  and  with  the  collat- 
eral questions  which  it  involves,  leaves  no  room 
for  doubting  that,  according  to  the  sense  in  which 
the  Prayer  Book  is  commonly  understood  and  taught, 
the  Bishop  is  triumphant  as  against  his  adversaries 
generally.  ...  It  may  be  asked  why,  in  common 
opinion,  a  practical  Arianism  and  Socinianism  are 
said  to  prevail  to  a  large  extent  among  both  the 
clergy  and  laity  of  the  English  Church?  And 
why  is  it  possible,  in  a  Church  professing  to  be 
Primitive  and  Catholic,  that  Arian  and  Socinian 
tenets  on  this  cardinal  point  [addressing  prayer 
to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ]  can  be  almost  openly 
avowed  to  an  extent  so  alarming?  What,  it  may 
be  asked,  is  to  check  the  progress  of  this  new 
movement  avowedly  directed  against  the  supreme 
adoration  of  our  Ixjrd  ?  These  are  the  questions 
which  it  has  now  become  a  necessity  for  the  Eng- 
lish Church  to  answer  plainly  and  categorically. 
They  invoke  a  theological  discussion  in  which 
\V(  stern  Christendom  is  deeply  concerned." 
The  same  writer  again  says:  "The  very  errors 


60  Episcopalianism 

and  falsities  promulgated  in  the  name  of  Chris- 
tianity, are  among  the  most  formidable  obstacles 
to  its  true  reception  and  advancement.  They 
have  unhappily  excited  in  many,  otherwise  favor- 
ably disposed  minds,  a  violent  revulsion  against 
every  form  of  Christian  belief.  They  have  pro- 
duced, to  an  extent  which  may  justly  be  called 
alarming,  their  natural  fruits — skepticism,  indif- 
ferentism,  atheism.  It  has  thus  come  to  pass  in 
these  days  of  boasted  civilization  and  enlighten- 
ment, that  in  a  certain  very  real  and  awful  sense, 
the  Divine  Truth  once  for  all  given  to  man — the 
Revealed  Word  of  God — may  be  said  to  be  cru- 
cified afresh,  and  put  to  an  open  shame,  between 
the  twin  robbers,  Superstition  and  Infidelity." — 
(  The  Athanasian  Creed  and  Modern  Thought,  pp. 
59,  60.) 

"There  is,"  says  the  author  of  "  New  Affinities 
of  Faith,"  "an  extensive  loosening  of  belief  in  the 
'schemes  of  salvation,'  which  Protestant  Churches 
are  constructed  to  administer ;  an  uneasiness  in 
preachers,  who  cannot  enforce  them  without  con- 
sciously refining  them  away,  and  in  hearers  to 
whom  they  bring  no  real  conviction ;  [a®0]  a  mu- 


In  its  Oit/M  Dress.  6 1 

tual  understanding  to  lower  the  standard  of  re- 
ligious veracity,  and  not  ask  too  much  sincerity  in 
profession  or  in  prayer (!).  It  is  no  longer  an  in- 
sult to  a  clergyman's  honor,  but  rather  a  compli- 
ment to  his  intelligence,  [JO^*]  to  suspect  him  of 
saying  one  thing  and  believing  another;  while  the 
layman  who  need  say  nothing,  uses  a  right  of  ret- 
icence which  no  earnest  conviction  ever  claimed." 
p.  8. 

Dr.  Arnold  says:  "I  do  not  believe  the  dam- 
natory clauses  in  the  Athanasian  Creed,  under  any 
qualification  given  of  them,  except  such  as  substi- 
tute for  them  propositions  of  a  wholly  different  cha- 
racter."— Life  and  Correspondence,  Vol.  II.,  p. 

1*5- 

Prof.  Jowett,  in  his  Essay  "On  the  Interpreta- 
tion of  Scripture,"  says:  "In  mathematics,  when 
a  step  is  wrong  we  pull  the  house  down  until  we 
reach  the  point  at  which  the  error  is  discovered. 
Hut  in  theology  it  is  otherwise ;  there  the  tendency- 
has  been  [and  we  might  say,  is  still]  to  conceal  the 
ttnsoundness  of  the  foundation  under  the  fairness 
and  loftiness  of  the  superstructure."  p.  342. 

And,  treating  of  inspiration,  this  writer  says  in 


62  Episcopalianism 

the  same  Essay:  "Nor  for  any  of  the  higher  or 
supernatural  views  of  inspiration  is  there  any  foun- 
dation in  the  Gospels  or  Epistles."  (Ibid.,  p.  345.) 
"Interpret  the  Scripture  like  any  other  book.  .  .  . 
Scripture  has  one  meaning — the  meaning  which  it 
had  to  the  mind  of  the  Prophet  or  Evangelist 
who  first  uttered  or  wrote,  to  the  hearers  or  read- 
ers who  first  received  it"  (p.  377,  '8);  and,  of 
course  (according  to  this  writer),  is  no  more  in- 
spired than  the"  writings  of  Milton  or  Shakespeare, 
and  therefore  no  more  worthy  to  be  called  "the 
Word  of  God."  The  first  hearers  or  readers  of 
the  Scripture  comprehended  its  full  meaning — saw 
therein  all  that  the  race  is  ever  to  see,  or  that  God 
ever  intended  to  teach  through  this  instrument- 
ality ! 

Rev.  F.  W.  Robertson,  a  distinguished  clergy- 
man of  the  Church  of  England,  writes  to  a  friend 
in  1853 :  "  It  is  really  time  now,  after  eighteen 
centuries,  that  we  should  get  some  better  concep- 
tion than  we  have  of  what  Christianity  is.  If  we 
could  but  comprehend  the  manifested  Life  of  God, 
...  we  might  have  some  chance  of  agreement. 
As  it  is,  I  suppose  we  shall  go  on  biting  and  de- 


In  its  Own  Dress.  63 

vouring  one  another,  and  thinking — alas  for  the 
mockery  ! — that  we  have  realized  a  Kingdom  of 
God  upon  earth.  To  understand  the  Life  and 
Spirit  of  Christ,  appears  to  me  to  be  the  only 
chance  of  remedy." — Life  and  Letters,  Vol.  II., 
p.  185. 

Again  the  same  writer,  with  characteristic  frank- 
ness, speaks  thus  of  the  Episcopalian  belief  in  Tri- 
personality : 

"A  person  can  believe  in  a  fact  or  a  being 
whose  nature  he  cannot  comprehend, — as,  for  in- 
stance, in  God,  or  in  vegetation,  or  life;  but  no 
one  can  believe  a  proposition  the  terms  of  which 
are  unknown  to  him.  For  example,  '  Three  per- 
sons are  one  God.'  Unless  he  knows  what  'per- 
son '  means,  he  cannot  believe  that,  because  he 
attaches  no  meaning  whatever,  or  else  a  false  one, 
to  the  assertion.  And  it  is  preposterous  to  say  he 
must  believe  it  as  a  mystery,  because  the  Church 
says  it ;  for  all  that  he  does  in  that  case,  is  to 
suspend  his  judgment  on  a  subject  of  which  he 
knows  nothing,  and  to  say  :  '  The  Church  knows 
all  about  it,  but  I  have  not  the  smallest  conception 


64  Episcopalianism 

what  it  is  she  knows."  (Ibid.,  p.  198.)  And 
this  writer  himself  a  loyal  son  of  the  Church  ! 

Again,— as  indicating  in  some  measure  the  de- 
gree in  which  religious  liberty  is  understood  and 
encouraged  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church — 
Mr.  Robertson  says : 

"Well,  I  suppose  God  will  punish  us,  if  in  no 
other  way,  by  banishing  from  us  all  noble  spirits, 
like  Newman  and  Manning  in  one  direction,  and 
men  like  Kingsley  in  another,  leaving  us  to  flounder 
in  the  mud  of  commonplace,  unable  to  rise  or 
sink  above  the  dead  level.  Day  by  day  my  hopes 
are  sinking.  We  dare  not  say  the  things  we  feel. 
Who  can?  Who  possibly  may,  when  'Records,' 
'Guardians,'  brother  ministers,  and  lay  hearers, 
are  ready  at  every  turn  to  call  out  '  Heterodoxy'  ? 
It  is  bondage  more  than  Roman."  Ib.,  p.  14. 

And  it  would  be  easy  to  fill  a  volume  with  ex- 
tracts like  the  foregoing. 

"When  ye,  therefore,  shall  see  the  abomination 
of  desolation,  spoken  of  by  Daniel  the  prophet, 
stand  in  the  holy  place  (whoso  readeth  let  him 
understand)  : — Then  let  them  which  be  in  Judea 
flee  into  the  mountains :  Let  him  who  is  on  the 


In  its  Own  Dress.  65 

housetop  not  come  down  to  take  anything  out  of 
his  house :  Neither  let  him  who  is  in  the  field  re- 
turn back  to  take  his  clothes." 

As  Episcopalian  ism  denies  a  spiritual  sense  to 
the  Scripture  so  plainly  taught  by  the  Lord  and 
his  apostles,  and  as  it  contradicts  the  true  Bible 
doctrine  of  the  Resurrection,  so,  consistently 
enough,  it  flouts  the  idea  of  a  spiritual  world,  and 
the  possibility,  of  course,  of  a  person's  being  in- 
tromitted  into  that  world  while  dwelling  in  the 
flesh.  The  very  first  of  the  alleged  "delusions" 
of  Swedenborgianism  instanced  by  Bishop  Bur- 
gess, whose  pamphlet  I  have  already  referred  to, 
is,  that  Swedenborg  claimed  to  have  had  his  spir- 
itual senses  opened,  and  to  have  been  thereby 
admitted  consciously  into  the  spiritual  world — to 
have  seen  heaven  and  hell,  and  held  open  inter- 
course with  the  denizens  of  each.  (I  will  say,  in 
passing,  that  any  tolerably  smart  infidel,  taking 
the  Bible  and  handling  it  in  the  manner  that  this 
Bishop  has  handled  the  writings  of  Swedenborg, 
could  make  the  sacred  Volume  appear  quite  as 
ridiculous  and  unworthy  of  confidence  as  he  has 
made  the  writings  of  the  illumined  Swede  appear 


66  Episcopalianism 

— probably  much  more  so.)  But  our  RT.  REV. 
friend  probably  did  not  see  how  he  was  discredit- 
ing the  sacred  Volume  itself  when  he  was  flouting 
Swedenborg's  claim  of  having  been  intromitted 
into  the  spiritual  world.  For  not  only  does  the 
Bible  often  speak  of  a  heaven  of  angels  and  a 
hell  of  devils,  but  repeatedly  does  it  tell  us  of 
their  having  been  seen  by  persons  in  the  flesh. 
Did  not  John  see  myriads  of  angels  when  a  door 
was  opened  to  him  in  heaven?  Did  not  the 
women  see  angels  when  they  stooped  down  and 
looked  into  the  sepulchre — clothed,  too,  "  in  shin- 
ing garments?"  Did  not  the  Judean  shepherds 
also  see  "a  multitude  of  the  heavenly  host,"  and 
hear  their  voices,  at  the  time  of  our  Lord's  ad- 
vent? Did  not  Gideon,  Manoah,  Abraham,  and 
other  Scripture  personages,  see  and  converse  with 
angels  ?  Does  not  Paul  tell  us  that,  on  one  occa- 
sion, he  was  "caught  up  to  the  third  heaven," 
where  also  he  heard  unutterable  words  ?  Was  the 
apostle  caught  up  bodily  ?  and  did  he  hear  those 
unutterable  words  with  his  natural  ears  in  the 
upper  regions  of  our  atmosphere  ?  And  were  those 
who  spoke  them  in  the  same  regions  of  natural 


In  its  Oum  Dress.  67 

space?  Bishop  Burgess  and  Episcopalianism,  I 
suppose,  would  answer,  "Yes." 

And  does  not  the  Bible  tell  us  how  one  is  per- 
mitted to  view  the  persons  and  things  of  the  spir- 
itual world  ? — that  is,  by  the  opening  of  the  spir- 
itual eyes,  just  as  Swedenborg  says  was  the  case 
with  himself.  Let  the  reader  turn  to  2  Kings,  6th 
chapter  and  iyth  verse,  and  ask  himself  what 
realm  it  was,  the  natural  or  spiritual,  in  which 
the  servant  of  Elisha  beheld  the  "horses  and 
chariots  of  fire"  round  about  his  master;  and 
what  sort  of  eyes  those  were  which  were  so  sud- 
denly "opened"  in  him  in  answer  to  the  proph- 
et's prayer. 

But  I  need  not  multiply  proofs  on  this  point. 
The  Bible  abounds  in  them.  And  if  there  was  a 
spiritual  world  inhabited  by  spirits  and  angels 
two  thousand  or  five  thousand  years  ago,  the  con- 
clusion is  irresistible  that  there  is  such  a  world 
still.  And  if  man  onff  had  spiritual  senses  which 
could  be  opened  during  his  life  on  earth,  we  may 
conclude  that  he  has  such  senses  still.  And  if 
these  senses  were  ever  opened  in  a  single  indivi- 
dual under  the  Old  Economy,  that  is  proof  that 


68  Episcopalianism 

they  may  be  opened  again — at  any  time  when  the 
Lord  sees  occasion  for  it.  And  whoever,  be  he 
Bishop  or  layman,  ridicules  such  alleged  phenom- 
ena of  more  recent  times,  or  cites  them  as  evi- 
dence in  themselves  of  delusion  or  madness,  has 
no  real  faith  in  the  Word  of  God ;  and  if  with 
his  lips  he  accepts  and  honors  the  Word,  in  his 
heart  he  rejects  and  despises  it. 

Bishop  Burgess  scouts  the  idea  of  anything  like 
a  "New  Church;"  and  in  this  he  is  sustained  by 
the  "  Protestant  Episcopal  Society  for  the  Promo- 
tion of  Evangelical  Knowledge,"  and  I  presume 
by  most  if  not  all  of  the  Bishops  in  his  Church. 
But  not  a  few  distinguished  men  in  this  Church 
have  thought  differently,  as  I  may  have  occasion 
to  show  hereafter. 

No  New  Church  to  be  expected?  What  says 
the  infallible  Teacher — the  "Alpha  and  Omega, 
the  Beginning  and  the  End ?"  Hear  Him.  "Be- 
hold I  make  all  things  new.  And  he  said  unto 
me,  Write  :  for  these  words  are  true  and  faithful." 
Is  it  of  natural  or  spiritual  things  that  the  Lord  is 
here  speaking?  Is  it  of  things  pertaining  to  the 
church — matters  of  doctrine  and  of  man's  im- 


In  its  Ouw  Dress.  69 

mortal  life — or  of  things  pertaining  to  this  out- 
ward material  universe  ? 

Already  has  this  Divine  prophecy  begun  to  be 
fulfilled.  Already  has  the  Lord  begun  to  make 
all  things  new  in  his  church  on  earth.  He  has 
come  "  in  the  clouds  of  heaven  "  as  He  promised; 
come  with  the  power  and  great  glory  of  the  spiritual 
sense  of  his  Word,  breaking  through  the  old  dark- 
ness— the  dim  obscurity  of  the  letter — enlighten- 
ing the  eyes  and  gladdening  the  hearts  of  all  who 
are  willing  to  receive  Him.  He  has,  through  his 
own  chosen  servant,  revealed  the  nature  of  his 
written  Word,  the  true  meaning  of  inspiration, 
the  laws  of  a  Divine  composition,  the  laws  of  our 
inner  spiritual  life  which  are  all  contained  in  the 
inner  or  spiritual  sense  of  the  'Scripture  now  laid 
open.  He  has  given  us  to  see  wherein  lies  the 
proper  Divinity  of  the  Word,  and  how  and  why 
it  is  the  Word  of  God,  and  therefore  infinite  in 
wisdom — unfathomable  in  its  depth  of  meaning — 
replete  with  instruction  for  angels  as  well  as  men. 
He  has  shown  us  that,  spiritually  interpreted  ac- 
cording to  the  canon  now  revealed,  the  Scripture 
is  in  perfect  harmony  with  itself,  with  enlightened 


70  Episcopalianism 

reason,  with  the  known  laws  of  the  human  soul, 
and  with  all  the  accepted  and  well-established  facts 
of  science.  He  has  lifted  the  veil  from  the  great 
Hereafter,  and  disclosed  the  grand  realities  of  the 
Spiritual  World;  has  shown  us  the  true  meaning 
of  the  Resurrection,  the  time  and  nature  of  the 
last  Judgment,  and  the  nature  of  both  Heaven  and 
Hell.  And  more  than  all  and  better  than  all,  He 
has  revealed,  as  never  before,  the  proper  Object 
and  real  nature  of  true  worship — has  revealed 
HIMSELF,  his  own  unspeakable  love  and  wis- 
dom, in  the  ONE  PERSON  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 

But  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  treats 
this  revelation  of  new  and  glorious  truth  with 
scorn  and  contumely.  It  treats  it  just  as  the  Jew- 
ish priests  and  elders  treated  our  Lord  at  his  first 
advent.  "  Now  the  chief  priests  and  elders  and 
all  the  council  sought  false  witness  against  Jesus, 
to  put  him  to  death ;  but  found  none :  yea, 
though  many  false  witnesses  came,  yet  found 
they  none.  .  .  .  And  the  high  priest  rent  his 
clothes,  saying,  He  hath  spoken  blasphemy.  .  .  . 
Trfen  did  they  spit  in  his  face  and  buffeted  him ; 


In  its  Own  Dress.  71 

and  others  smote  him  with  the  palms  of  their 
hands."  The  precious  truths  which  the  Lord  has 
mercifully  revealed  through  Swedenborg — truths 
given  to  dispel  the  darkness  that  has  so  long 
enveloped  the  church,  to  enlighten  and  bless  the 
souls  of  men,  to  unfold  within  them  a  nobler  life, 
and  so  hasten  the  time  when  the  Father's  will 
shall  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  done  in  heaven — 
these  priceless  truths  Bishop  Burgess  calls  "the 
speculations  of  one  who  would  have  been  justly 
deemed  a  blasphemer,  if  he  had  not  been  a  mono- 
maniac." And  the  "Protestant  Episcopal  So- 
ciety" endorse  the  false  testimony,  as  though  it 
were  the  truth.  And  other  Bishops,  instead  of 
counseling  those  under  their  charge  to  give  heed 
to  the  words  of  the  Lord:  "Watch,  therefore, 
for  ye  know  not  what  hour  your  Lord  doth  come;" 
instead  of  encouraging  them  to  faithfully  and  prayer- 
fully examine,  each  one  for  himself,  what  claims  to 
be  a  new  revelation — the  promised  second  appear- 
ing of  the  Lord — are  ready  rather  to  plat  the  crown 
of  thorns  and  put  it  upon  his  head,  and  to  join  in 
the  multitude's  frantic  cry,  "  Let  him  be  crucified." 
They  warn  both  ministers  and  people  not  to  read 


7  2  Episcopalianism 

the  writings  of  Swedenborg,  which  they  call  he- 
retical- and  foolish,  and  dangerous  to  the  welfare 
of  human  souls.  They  do  all  in  their  power  to 
impress  people  with  the  belief  that  he  was  a  lunatic 
or  an  impostor,  and  his  teachings  unworthy  the 
attention  of  serious  minds.  And  so  whatever 
influence  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  is  able 
to  wield,  is  exerted  not  to  encourage  but  to  stifle 
free  investigation  of  theological  questions ;  not  to 
help  forward  but  to  hinder  the  progress  of  truth 
which  the  Lord  has  been  pleased  to  reveal  for  the 
instruction  and  welfare  of  humanity.  Painful  as 
these  things  are  to  those  who  know  and  love  the 
truth  of  heaven,  there  is  comfort  in  the  reflection 
that  the  opponents  and  vilifiers  and  hinderers  of 
this  truth,  are  usually  quite  ignorant  of  the  work 
they  are  engaged  in.  So  was  it  with  the  persecu- 
tors and  crucifiers  of  the  Word  incarnate.  Hence 
that  memorable  prayer:  "Father,  forgive  them, 
for  they  know  not  what  they  do. ' ' 

The  disagreeable  part  of  my  task  is  now  per- 
formed. I  have  shown  what  Episcopalianism  is — 
have  exhibited  some  of  its  absurd  pretensions — 
have  pointed  out  some  of  its  errors  and  delusions, 


In  its  Own  Dress.  73 

and  shown  how  directly  it  contradicts  the  Word 
of  God.  I  have  spoken  plainly,  feeling  it  a  duty 
to  do  so,  even  at  the  risk  of  wounding  the  feelings 
of  some  whom  I  highly  esteem.  Numerous  volumes 
have  been  written  in  justification  and  defence  of 
Episcopalianism  ;  but  these,  so  far  from  indicating 
genius,  depth  or  wisdom,  are  for  the  most  part 
superficial,  absurd  and  worthless — full  of  dry 
husks  and  chaff,  instead  of  palatable  and  nutritious 
food  for  the  soul. 

I  will  not  deny  that  many  have  carried  with 
them  into  the  Episcopalian  school  much  of  Chris- 
tianity— enough  to  make  some  bright  examples 
of  benevolence  and  patience.  The  Christian  part 
is  excellent ;  and  for  it  those  individuals  shall 
have  my  respect,  honor,  esteem  and  affection. 
The  Episcopalian  part  is  all  error,  delusion  and 
danger. 

Should  these  pages  fall  into  the  hands  of  any 
who  have  given  their  confidence  to  the  claims  of 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and  who,  dazzled 
by  its  age,  wealth  and  numbers,  are  disposed  to 
look  with  suspicion  if  not  contempt  upon  every- 
thing in  religion  that  has  not  upon  it  the  mark  of 

T 


74  Episcopalianism. 

antiquity,  or  that  lacks  the  approval  of  great  num- 
bers, I  would  ask  them  to  consider  how  new  was 
the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  eighteen  hundred  years 
ago,  and  how  few  of  the  rich  and  powerful  of 
those  times  looked  with  any  favor  upon  the  claims 
or  teachings  of  the  man  of  Nazareth.  I  would 
ask  them,  further,  not  to  lay  aside  this  work 
(especially  if  they  have  read  Bishop  Burgess' 
pamphlet  on  Swedenborgianism)  until  they  shall 
have  read  Part  II.,  and  examined  carefully  the 
nature  and  texture  of  those  borrowed  robes. 


PART    II. 
EP1SCOPALIANISM  IN  BORROWED  ROBES. 

WE  have  seen  what  Episcopalianism  is  when 
judged  by  its  own  standards,  or  decked  in  its  own 
apparel.  On  all  the  vital  points  of  Christian 
doctrine,  it  contradicts  alike  the  testimony  of 
Scripture,  the  conclusions  of  reason,  and  the  in- 
tuitions of  the  enlightened  conscience.  But  lat- 
terly it  has  begun  to  borrow  other  robes — the 
beautiful  garments  of  the  New  Jerusalem.  Decked 
in  these,  its  appearance  is  very  different  from  what 
it  is  when  seen  in  its  own  seedy  and  ragged  attire. 

Spite  of  the  warnings  and  threatenings  of 
Bishops  and  Priests,  spite  of  the  misunderstand- 
ings and  misrepresentations  of  Swedenborg  and 
his  teachings  with  which  the  air  is  full,  spite  of 
the  known  and  relentless  opposition  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  to  any  new  religious 

truth,  there   are  not  a  few  in  that  very  church 

7. 


7  6  Episcopalianism 

whose  souls  are  beginning  to  be  cheered  and 
gladdened  by  the  light  of  the  New  Dispensation. 
Several  of  its  ministers  are  reading  and  some  of 
them  are  teaching  the  doctrines  of  the  New 
Church,  to  the  great  joy  of  their  respective  con- 
gregations who  find  in  their  teachings  abundant 
spiritual  nourishment.  Of  course  they  do  this 
covertly,  without  the  knowledge  or  permission  of 
their  Bishops,  possibly  in  disregard  of  their  ordi- 
nation vows.  So  was  it  at  the  first  advent. 
"  Howbeit  no  man  spake  openly  of  him  for  fear 
of  the  yews." 

A  few  extracts  from  recently  published  works 
by  ministers  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  will  illus- 
trate my  meaning,  and  confirm  the  truth  of  what 
I  say. 

Rev.  T.  M.  Gorman,  in  a  work  of  rare  interest 
and  ability  on  "The  Athanasian  Creed  and 
Modern  Thought,"  although  he  nowhere  makes 
mention  of  Swedenborg,  shows  that  he  is  not  only 
familiar  with  his  teachings,  but  cordially  accepts 
all  his  fundamental  doctrines ;  and  sees  and  feels, 
too,  the  necessity  of  a  new  system  of  theology 
widely  different  from  Episcopalianism.  He  says: 


In  Borrowed  Robes.  77 

"  A  blind  and  unconscious  repetition  of  doctrinal 
summaries  must  inevitably  tend  to  deaden  the 
higher  moral  sense,  and  becloud  the  intellectual 
vision  with  which  man  has  been  endowed  for  the 
perception  of  things  spiritual  and  heavenly.  This 
is  too  plain  to  need  proof.  When,  on  the  other 
hand,  expositions  of  the  Christian  Faith  embody- 
ing genuine  spiritual  truths  from  the  Living  Word, 
are  presented  in  such  a  form  that  the  intellect  is 
able  to  grasp  their  meaning ;  .  .  .  such  exposi- 
tions may  be  compared  to  the  hem  of  the  Lord's 
glorious  garment  of  Divine  Light :  and  when 
touched,  if  one  may  so  say,  by  the  hand  of 
a  living  and  intelligent  faith,  spiritual  —  yea, 
Divine  virtue  goes  out  from  them.  For  them 
there  is  a  harmony  of  faith  and  reason.  Truth  is 
seen  in  its  own  heavenly  radiance.  There  is,  in 
some  sort,  an  actual  communion  with  heaven,  the 
native  abode  of  all  Truth. 

'  If  the  teaching  of  the  Church  is  to  be  be- 
lieved and  practiced,  it  must  be  shown,  on  proper 
and  sufficient  evidence,  to  be  true — intrinsically 
reasonable,  in  the  highest  and  purest  sense.  No 
appeals,  however  subtle  and  eloquent,  to  a  blind 


78  Episcopalianism 

and  unreasoning  faith,  will  much  longer  suffice  to 
prop  up  the  crumbling  superstitions  of  past  ages. 
The  old  arguments  and  persuasives  which  once 
sufficed  to  establish  and  perpetuate  popular  re- 
ligious convictions,  have  no  longer  any  influence 
on  the  great  mass  of  intelligent  men.  We  breathe 
an  entirely  new  scientific,  moral,  intellectual,  and 
religious  atmosphere.  New  and  unexpected  lights 
have  broken  in  upon  the  human  mind,  filling  it 
with  wonder  and  delight.  The  true  character  of 
numberless  phantoms  of  the  imagination,  which 
in  every  region  of  human  research  had  held  un- 
disputed sway  as  real  existences,  has  now  been 
laid  bare.  A  blind  faith  in  the  supernatural  is  no 
longer  possible.  The  numerous  and  wonderful 
revelations  of  science  have,  so  to  speak,  furnished 
new  eyes  to  the  understanding,  and  cleared  the 
intellectual  horizon  far  and  wide.  .  .  . 

"The  time  is  approaching  when  a  complete  re- 
adjustment of  current  theological  views  will  be,  to 
some  extent,  possible.  For  many  a  century  the 
teaching  of  the  Churches  has  been,  on  the  highest 
subjects  of  human  thought,  miserably  in  disaccord 
with  reason  and  fact. 


In  Borrowed  Robes.  79 

"It  is  clear  that  the  Christian  faith  must  now 
be  maintained  and  spread  by  new  arguments  and 
new  expositions  of  its  first  principles.  The  old 
modes  of  defence,  like  the  old  conceptions,  are 
fast  becoming  obsolete.  Once  more  as  in  the  old 
time,  the  dead  must  be  left  to  bury  their  dead. 
An  entirely  new  effort  must  be  made  by  all  who 
love  truth  in  sincerity,  to  welcome  its  advent  from 
every  quarter  and  in  every  form. 

"The  path  of  sound  theological  opinion  in  the 
Church  is  beset  by  two  obstacles  of  giant  magni- 
tude. There  is,  on  the  one  hand,  a  desolating 
Tritheism,  and  the  phantasms  to  which  it  neces- 
sarily gives  origin  ;  and  on  the  other  a  naturalistic 
Atheism,  the  subtle  poison  of  which  induces  on 
the  mind  into  which  it  finds  an  entrance,  stupefac- 
tion and  torpor  touching  things  intellectual  and 
spiritual.  The  remains  of  Christian  truth  and  life 
in  the  Church,  can  be  saved  only  by  the  revindi- 
cation and  reassertion — in  a  form  adapted  to  the 
new  state  of  thought — of  the  foundation  doctrine 
of  her  worship,  A  DIVINE  TRINITY  IN  THE  ONE 
LIVING  AND  TRUE  GOD."  pp.  109-113. 

And  what  is  this  Trinity  as  held  and  taught  by 


8o  Episcopalianism 

Mr.  Gorman?  Very  different  from  that  com- 
monly received  and  taught  in  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, but  precisely  that  taught  by  Swedenborg 
throughout  his  writings.  The  author  states  it 
thus: 

"The  three  general  Essentials  of  every  man, 
are  soul,  body  and  the  united  working  of  both. 
In  like  manner  in  the  ONE  GOD  there  are  three — 
and  only  three — general  Essentials ;  Father,  Son 
and  Holy  Spirit"  (p.  135); — meaning,  clearly, 
that  the  Divine  Trinity  finds  its  image  and  best 
illustration  in  man's  soul,  body,  and  their  united 
working — these  being  the  three  general  Essentials 
of  every  individual. 

And  in  another  part  of  his  book,  he  says  in 
reply  to  one  who  had  virtually  confessed  that 
"the  mysterious  and  adorable  doctrine  of  the 
Holy  Trinity,"  is  not  a  doctrine  to  be  compre- 
hended or  explained  : — 

"To  admit,  in  an  age  like  the  present,  even  by 
implication,  that  the  Church  possesses  no  intelli- 
gible doctrine  of  the  Divine  Trinity,  is  virtually 
to  surrender  the  first  principles  of  the  Faith  to  the 
enemy.  The  sooner  the  rulers  of  the  Church  be- 


In  Borrowed  Robes.  81 

come  fully  alive  to  the  extreme  importance  of  this 
plain  fact,  the  better  and  happier  will  it  ultimately 
be  for  all  concerned."  p.  106. 

And  who,  according  to  this  writer,  is  "the 
one  living  and  true  God?"  Here  is  his  own  an- 
swer: 

"Jesus  Christ  alone  is  God  and  man,  that  is 
to  say,  GOD-MAN,  or  a  DIVINE-HUMAN  PERSON." 

P-  *35- 

Again,  he  says  : — 

"At  the  head  of  all  doctrines  stands  one  which 
good  and  true  Christians  of  all  Communions 
acknowledge  implicitly  in  every  act  of  obedience 
and  love  to  God  their  Saviour,  but  which  as  yet 
is  little  known  among  theologians  from  any  clear, 
definite  and  rational  idea — viz.:  that  the  glorified 
Human  Form,  in  which  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
now  reigns  as  God  over  all,  blessed  for  ever,  is 
DIVINE — not  merely  human  and  finite  as  com- 
monly supposed,  but  in  all  the  fullness  of  meaning 
of  the  terms,  DIVINE  and  INFINITE.  This  truth 
ought  to  be  the  primary  doctrine  of  all  Christian 
Churches."  p.  100.  , 

And   many  times  in   this  same  work  does  he 


82  Episcopalianism 

speak  of  Jesus  Christ  as  the  DIVINE  MAN,  and  the 
only  proper  Object  of  worship,  saying  in  one 
place,  "Although  he  be  Divine  and  Human  in  one 
DIVINE  HUMAN  form — that  is,  GOD-MAN  ;  yet  he 
is  not  two  beings  or  'persons,'  but  one  Christ,  or 
Messiah,  in  One  Divine  Person."  p.  148.  And 
he  reckons  it  as  "  the  chief  of  all  doctrines"  and 
the  very  foundation  of  the  Christian  Church, 
"  that  JEHOVAH,  the  Being  of  beings,  is  to  be  wor- 
shiped in  his  Humanity,  that  is,  in  the  GOD- 
MAN,  the  Lord  God  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ." 
p.  154.  Again  he  speaks  of  "the  supreme  Divin- 
ity of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ"  as  "an  essential 
principle  of  the  Christian  faith,  wanting  which  a 
Church  is  a  Church  only  in  name."  p.  18.  The 
very  doctrine  distinctly  taught  by  Swedenborg 
over  and  over  again,  and  by  no  one  previous  to 
his  time ;  and  its  fundamental  importance  is  in- 
sisted on  by  Mr.  Gorman  after  the  precise  fashion 
of  the  great  Swede. 

Furthermore,  Swedenborg  tells  us  why  it  was 
necessary  that  God  should  assume  our  natural 
humanity,  and  what  was  accomplished  by  it,  and 
why  He  could  be  tempted  when  on  earth,  and 


In  Borrowed  Robes.  83 

how  the  process  of  glorification  went  on.  And 
every  student  of  his  writings  will  recognize  a 
striking  similarity — the  precise  idea  and  almost 
the  very  language — between  his  teachings  on  this 
subject,  and  the  following  from  Mr.  Gorman's 
book: 

"This  victory  over  the  powers  of  spiritual 
darkness,  this  glorification  of  his  human  Essence 
and  Form,  was  effected  by  means  of  temptations, 
the  mysterious  and  dread  character  of  which  was 
revealed  to  man  only  in  part,  under  the  veil  of 
the  letter — temptations  which  he  endured  in  that 
infirm  humanity  derived  from  the  virgin  mother. 
This  alone  could  be  tempted.  The  Divinity,  as 
such,  cannot  be  tempted  in  any  wise.  These 
temptations  were  overcome,  by  successive  steps, 
continually  unto  the  end.  THE  PASSION  or  THE 
CROSS  was  the  last  and  direst  temptation ;  but  it 
was  also  the  full,  perfect  and  eternal  victory." 
p.  163. 

This  writer  favors  the  honest  efforts  of  earnest 
and  good  men  "  to  render  the  common  confession 
of  Christian  belief,  and  the  rule  of  Christian  life, 
as  brief,  simple  and  comprehensive  as  possible, 


84  Episcopalianism 

consistently  with  conserving  the  very  essentials  of 
Christianity."  And  he  adds: 

"These  essentials  maybe  said  to  be  three  in 
number : — ist,  A  belief  in  the  SUPREME  DIVINITY 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  2d,  A  belief,  in  some 
real  and  bonafide  sense,  in  the  INSPIRATION  of  the 
Word  of  God.  3d,  A  belief  that  LOVE  TO  THE 

LORD  AND    LOVE   TOWARDS   THE   NEIGHBOR,  COnsti- 

tute  the  essence  and  life  of  the  church  in  the 
mind  of  man — in  other  words,  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  within  him." 

And  the  following  is  what  Swedenborg  says : — 
"There  are  three  essentials  of  the  Church, — an 
acknowledgment  of  the  Divinity  of  the  Lord,  an 
acknowledgment  of  the  holiness  of  the  Word, 
and  the  life  which  is  called  charity.  Every  man's 
faith  is  conformable  to  his  life,  that  is,  his  charity. 
From  the  Word  he  knows  what  his  life  ought  to 
be,  and  from  the  Lord  he  has  reformation  and 
salvation.  If  these  three  had  been  held  as  the 
essentials  of  the  Church,  intellectual  dissensions 
would  not  have  divided  it,  but  would  only  have 
varied  it,  as  the  light  varies  colors  in  beautiful 
objects,  and  as  a  variety  of  jewels  constitutes  the 


/*  Borrowed  Robes.  85 

beauty  of  a  kingly  crown." — Divine  Providence, 
n.  259. 

Again,  speaking  of  what  he  terms  "the  irra- 
tional dogma  of  'Salvation  by  faith  alone,'  Mr. 
Gorman  says : 

"The  leaders  in  most  of  the  Protestant  sects, 
in  establishing  this  dogma,  destroyed,  as  far  as 
it  was  possible,  a  principal  foundation  of  the 
Christian  Religion,  by  separating  Faith  from 
Charity;  when  nevertheless  it  is  a  most  certain 
truth*of  the  Christian  Religion,  that  no  genuine 
living  faith  can  possibly  exist  when  serrated  from 
charity.  Faith  separate  from  charity  is  no  faith  ; 
for  charity  is  the  life,  soul  and  essence  of  faith." 
— Preface,  p.  xvii. 

The  very  same  doctrine,  again,  that  we  find  in 
Swedenborg  repeated  more  than  a  hundred  times, 
and  often  in  nearly  the  same  words  employed  by 
this  writer. 

The  innumerable  falsities,  too,  which  have  cor- 
rupted Christianity  and  darkened  the  church,  this 
writer  traces  to  precisely  the  same  source  as  does 
Swedenborg — viz.:  to  a  misunderstanding  and 
falsification  of  the  written  Word.  He  says : 


86  Episcopalianism 

"  Misinterpretations  and  perversions  of  the  let- 
ter of  Holy  Scripture,  arising  from  the  commonly 
received  canons  of  Biblical  interpretation,  have 
gradually  and  insensibly  led  to  the  adoption  of 
most  erroneous  and  absurd  views  concerning  the 
Divine  essence  and  character  of  the  one  living 
and  true  God.  To  a  similar  source  may  be  traced 
numberless  other  whimsical  notions  and  pernicious 
persuasions,  originating  in  human  pride  and  ambi- 
tion, plainly  contradicting  the  teaching  of  Scrip- 
ture, and  at  variance  with  the  dictates  of  sound 
reason."  Ibid.,  pp.  9,  10. 

Mr.  Gorman  is  in  perfect  accord  also  with 
Swedenborg  in  his  view  of  the  nature,  and  right 
method  of  interpreting  the  Scripture.  Hear 
him: 

"  Holy  Scripture  cannot  be  rightly  interpreted 
apart  from  a  previous  admission,  in  general  terms 
at  least,  of  its  Divine  origin  and  spiritual  inner 
meaning. ' ' 

"The  Scripture  has  in  general  two  meanings 
at  least — one  natural  or  literal,  the  other  spiritual; 
with  this  difference,  however,  between  them — 
that  the  spiritual  is  the  genuine  and  unchangeable 


///  Borrowed  Robes.  87 

meaning,  which  is  clothed  by  the  natural."  pp. 
40,  44. 

Again  : 

' '  The  '  remonstrances '  of  those  who  advocate 
'one  and  only  one  meaning,'  are,  in  Divine  Prov- 
idence, destined  to  be  for  ever  unavailing.  The 
letter  without  the  spirit — the  '  original  meaning  ' 
real  or  supposed,  without  the  spiritual  and  living 
sense — is  like  a  body  without  a  soul.  .  .  .  The 
time  will  come — to  some  extent  has  already  come 
— when  students  of  the  Divine  Word  will  search 
its  pages  neither  for  astronomy,  geology,  nor  any 
other  natural  or  mere  worldly  science ;  but  for 
that  which  alone  it  was  by  infinite  Wisdom  pro- 
vided to  teach  for  all  ages — the  spiritual  truths 
which  pertain  to  man's  regenerate  life,  and  the 
eternal  laws  by  which  the  Lord's  Kingdom  is 
governed  in  heaven  and  on  earth.  The  time  is 
at  hand,  when  an  attempt  to  impose  on  the  free 
study  of  the  Word,  the  carnal  and  blinding  bond- 
age of  'the  letter  that  killeth,1  will  be  regarded 
as  the  offspring  of  either  hallucination  or  wicked- 
ness." pp.  138,  139. 

In  respect  to  the  Church  and  Church  Unity, 


88  Episcopalianism 

as  well  as  the  nature  of  true  internal  worship, 
see  again  how  entirely  Mr.  Gorman  agrees  with 
Swedenborg — expressing  himself  in  almost  the 
very  same  language : 

"  The  Lord's  Kingdom  on  earth,  in  other  words 
his  Church,  must,  from  the  circumstances  of  the 
case,  exist  in  various  external  forms;  and  have 
diverse  conceptions  of  Revealed  Truth.  Although 
each  separate  religious  communion  professes  to 
derive  its  tenets  from  Holy  Scripture,  and  indi- 
viduals, even  in  the  same  Christian  Society,  differ 
widely  in  their  opinions ;  still  all  this  need  be  no 
barrier  to  Church  Unity,  provided  Christians  be 
at  one  in  willing  and  doing  what  is  good  and  right. 
.  .  .  The  notion  of  Papal  Unity,  and  every  imi- 
tation of  it  in  the  Reformed  Churches  or  else- 
where, is  not  only  chimerical,  but  also  tends 
necessarily  to  the  violation  of  Christian  truth  and 
charity." 

"  There  is  a  mere  outward  formal  worship ;  and 
there  is  also  an  inner  worship  '  in  spirit  and  in 
truth.'  The  votaries  of  the  former  are  hypo- 
crites; and  in  the  Divine  sight  such  worship  is 
vile  and  abominable.  Those  who  cultivate  the 


In  Borrowed  Robes.  89 

latter,  are  children  of  God ;  and  are  to  be  found 
in  every  form  of  Christianity — nay,  even  among 
the  Heathen.  Who  these  are  individually,  and  to 
which  class  they  truly  belong,  is  certainly  known 
only  to  Him  who  knows  what  is  in  man."  pp.  99, 
100. 

And  Swedenborg  says — and  more  than  fifty 
times  does  he  repeat  the  same  in  substance  : 

"In  respect  to  the  Ixml's  Kingdom  on  earth, 
that  is,  in  respect  to  his  Church,  the  case  is  this : 
that,  since  it  derives  its  doctrines  from  the  literal 
sense  of  the  Word,  it  must  needs  be  various  and 
diverse  in  respect  to  doctrines, — one  society  pro- 
fessing one  thing  to  be  a  truth  of  faith  because  it 
is  so  said  in  the  Word,  and  another  society  pro- 
fessing another  thing  for  the  same  reason  ;  and  so 
on.  Consequently  the  Lord's  Church  will  differ 
in  different  places;  and  this  difference  will  exist, 
not  only  between  large  societies  or  general  bodies 
of  the  Church,  but  sometimes  between  individuals 
in  each  society.  Nevertheless  a  difference  in  the 
doctrines  of  faith  is  no  reason  why  the  Church 
should  not  be  one,  provided  there  be  unanimity 


90  Episcopalianism 

in  willing  what  is  good  and  doing  what  is  good. ' ' — 
Arcana  Coelestia,  n.  3451. 

Again,  he  says : 

"Worship  is  both  internal  and  external  " — "If 
love  and  faith  are  not  inwardly  in  prayers  and 
adoration,  there  is  no  soul  or  life  in  these  latter, 
but  only  a  certain  external  like  that  of  flatterers 
and  pretenders,  who,  we  know,  are  not  pleasing 
even  to  a  wise  man  in  the  world.  To  do  according 
to  the  Lord 's  precepts,  is  the  way  to  worship  Him 
truly;  yea,  this  is  true  love  and  true  faith."  Ibid., 
n.  10,  143. 

And  speaking  of  the  Church,  this  same  writer 
says:  "It  is  everywhere,  both  in  those  kingdoms 
where  the  [Christian]  church  is,  and  out  of  them, 
where  the  life  is  formed  according  to  the  precepts 
of  charity."  Ibid.,  n.  8152.  And  elsewhere  and 
often  does  he  say  that  "  no  one  but  the  Lord 
alone  knows  the  internal  states  of  men,"  or  who 
belong  to  his  true  church. 

And  so  Mr.  Gorman,  throughout  his  book, 
when  he  gives  us  his  own  views,  shows  that  he 
fully  accepts  Swedenborg's  doctrine  on  the  several 
subjects  herein  discussed ;  and  that  he  knows 


In  Borrowed  Robes.  91 

they  are  not  the  views  commonly  held  and  taught 
in  the  Church  of  which  he  is  a  recognized  min- 
ister. Yet  they  are  views  which  intelligent  people 
who  are  not  much  confirmed  in  falsities,  readily 
receive.  This  is  plain  from  the  author's  Preface, 
in  which  he  tells  us  that  "the  leading  points"  in 
the  work  from  which  I  have  quoted,  were  pre- 
sented in  a  discourse  that  he  delivered  on  two  sep- 
arate occasions.  And  he  adds : 

"The  method  adopted  on  both  occasions,  of 
treating  a  most  difficult  and  almost  totally  ne- 
glected part  of  our  Divine  Service,  called  forth 
numerous  and  unexpected  expressions  of  cordial 
approval  from  intelligent  and  earnest-minded  pa- 
rishioners who  happened  to  be  present,  and  also  a 
strongly  expressed  desire  to  see  the  discourse  in 
print.  The  writer,  for  obvious  reasons,  hesitated 
as  to  the  propriety  of  complying  with  this  solicit- 
ation ;  but  the  perusal  of  a  debate  on  the  same 
subject,  which  recently  took  place  in  the  Upper 
House  of  Convocation  for  the  Province  of  Can- 
terbury— a  Report  of  which  wa»  published  in  the 
leading  Church  newspapers — removed  at  once  all 
scruples  in  the  matter.  It  was  then,  apparently 


92  Episcopalianism 

for  the  first  time,  publicly  declared  by  authority, 
that  the  explanation  of  the  Creed  was  an  open 
question. ' ' 

The  doctrinal  teachings  of  Swedenborg  are  at 
once  so  reasonable  and  Scriptural,  that  (provided 
the  seer's  name  is  withheld)  the  people  always  re- 
ceive them  with  great  delight.  So  was  it  at  the 
Lord's  first  advent.  "The  common  people  heard 
Him  gladly." 

Another  interesting  work  is  before  me  called 
"Words  in  Season;"  published  in  this  country 
about  a  year  ago,  and  written  (as  the  title-page 
shows)  by  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England, 
Henry  B.  Browning,  A.M.,  Rector  of  St.  George 
with  St.  Paul,  Stamford,  England.  It  is  an  un- 
usually popular  work  for  one  of  its  class;  is  hav- 
ing a  wide  circulation,  and  is  read  with  delight 
by  the  best  people  in  every  Christian  denomina- 
tion ;  and  none,  perhaps,  have  read  it  with  more 
delight  than  Episcopalians  themselves.  It  con- 
sists of  forty  chapters,  wherein  is  discussed  in  a 
plain  and  familiar  manner  every  important  doc- 
trine of  the  Christian  religion.  The  writer's 
views  are  presented  on  probably  more  than  a  hun- 


In  Borrowed  Robes.  93 

dred  distinct  religious  topics ;  and  while  he  never 
mentions  the  name  of  Swedenborg,  nor  alludes  to 
him  in  any  way,  he  is  in  complete  accord  with  him 
on  every  subject,  but  by  no  means  in  agreement  with 
the  Thirty-nine  Articles.  The  most  pronounced 
New  Churchman  would  not  ask  for  a  book  more 
unexceptionable  in  both  its  doctrines  and  spirit, 
or  more  completely  in  harmony  with  Swedenborg's 
teachings,  than  "Words  in  Season."  I  find  no 
fault  with  the  author,  but  commend  him  rather, 
for  not  placing  any  ear-mark  upon  his  book.  How 
many  of  his  brethren  in  the  ministry  would  have 
ever  read  it,  had  he  informed  them  in  the  outset 
that  they  were  herein  to  be  treated  to  a  dish  of 
Swcdenborgianism  pure  and  simple?  Far  better 
to  do  as  he  did — present  the  simple  truth,  and 
show  its  agreement  with  reason  and  Scripture ; 
and  leave  the  reader  to  find  out  for  himself  the 
source  from  or  the  channel  through  which  it  came. 
The  mention  of  the  name  of  Swedenborg  would 
probably  have  frightened  many  an  Episcopalian 
away  from  the  rich  repast. 

I  will  add  here  a  number  of  e\tracts  from  this 
work,  that  the  reader  may  see  how  different  it  is 


94  Episcopalianism 

from  the  teaching  of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles. 
Call  it  Episcopalianism  if  you  will ;  but  certainly 
it  is  not  the  old-fashioned  kind.  It  is  Episcopa- 
lianism transfigured  : — Episcopalianism  not  in  her 
old  and  tattered  garments,  but  in  the  new  and 
comely  robes  woven  in  the  looms  of  heaven.  I 
shall  give  the  extracts  without  comments. 

HOW  TO  THINK  OF  GOD. 

"  Whenever,  therefore,  we  would  think  of  God, 
we  should  think  of  Him  in  the  glorified  Person 
of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  This  will 
give  definiteness  to  our  ideas  of  Him.  Many 
think  of  God  as  of  an  infinitely  diffused  substance 
without  form.  Thus  the  thought  of  God  is  dis- 
sipated, like  the  sight  of  the  eye  when  one  looks 
upon  the  boundless  universe.  All  this  vagueness 
is  removed  when  we  think  of  God  as  a  Divine 
Man,  infinite  in  Love,  Wisdom  and  Power,  and 
present  by  his  life-giving  effluence  in  all  creatures 
and  all  things.  The  deep  desire  of  every  earnest 
soul  is  to  know  God — *  Show  us  the  Father  and  it 
sufficeth  us.'  And  to  the  soul  so  yearning  to 
know  God,  the  Saviour  answers,  as  He  answered 


In  Borrowed  Robes.  95 

Philip :  '  Have  I  been  so  long  time  with  you, 
and  yet  hast  thou  not  known  me,  Philip?  he  that 
hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father.'  John  xiv. 
8,  9.  The  attempt  to  think  of  God  as  He  is  in 
the  infinite  abysses  of  his  own  nature,  must  ever 
be  futile.  The  mind  becomes  confused  in  the 
effort  to  soar  so  far  above  the  necessary  limitations 
of  human  thought.  But  in  Jesus,  '  God  manifest 
in  the  flesh,'  we  have  a  revelation  of  God  exactly 
suited  to  our  wants.  The  vagueness  of  belief  in 
God,  which  prior  to  the  incarnation  was  inevi- 
table, is  now  abolished  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord. 
'God  in  Christ'  is  so  brought  down  to  our  spir- 
itual state,  that  He  can  be  a  subject  of  rational 
thought  and  an  object  of  rational  love.  The  in- 
carnation was  such  an  accommodation  of  God  to 
our  condition  as  to  bring  Him  within  the  limita- 
tions of  human  thought  and  affection.  It  was  the 
most  wonderful  of  all  Divine  accommodations  to 
man's  state.  To  know  Christ  is  to  know  God, 
and  to  love  Christ  is  to  love  God ;  not  God  afar 
off  in  the  infinitude  of  his  Divine  nature,  incom- 
prehensible by  human  thought ;  not  God  as  an 
abstract  idea  taking  shape  in  the  necessary  anthro- 


96  Episcopalianism 

pomorphism  of  our  own  minds;  but  God  incar- 
nate— 'Immanuel,  God  with  us.' 

"To  angels  in  heaven  as  well  as  to  men  on  earth, 
God,  who  in  Himself  is  invisible,  is  manifested 
in  Christ.  They  think  of  God  and  see  Him  as  a 
Divine  Man,  who  created  them  in  his  own  image 
and  likeness,  and  who  Himself  descended  into 
the  natural  and  material  plane  of  his  creation, 
and  was  manifest  in  the  flesh."  pp.  203,  204. 

THE  GLORIFICA  TION  OF  CHRIST. 

"The  great  fundamental  doctrine  of  the  New 
Testament  is  this :  In  order  to  redeem  and  save 
mankind,  God  took  upon  Himself  a  human  nature 
which  was  born  of  the  virgin  Mary;  through 
victories  in  temptation,  this  human  nature  became 
more  and  more  fully  one  with  the  Divine  nature ; 
until,  perfected  through  sufferings,  it  was  filled 
with  all  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead,  and  exalted 
far  above  all  heavens  to  be  the  everlasting  medium 
of  Divine  influences  to  angels  and  men. 

"This  process,  by  which  the  human  nature  of 
Christ  was  made  one  with  the  Divine  which  dwelt 
within  it,  is  termed  the  glorification  of  Christ.  It 
consisted  in  the  opening  of  his  human  capacities, 


In  Borrowed  Robes.  97 

by  the  continuous  removal  of  all  inherited  condi- 
tions that  could  limit  or  resist  the  influx  of  the 
Divine  life ;  and  in  the  continuous  descent  of  the 
fullness  of  the  Godhead  from  the  inmost  even  to 
the  ultimates  of  the  perfected  humanity,  until  the 
human  consciousness  became  altogether  one  with 
the  Divine.  The  real  operator  was  God  working 
within  the  human  nature  in  which  He  was  in- 
carnate ;  for  Jesus  received  continually  from  the 
Divine  Father  who  dwelt  in  Him,  the  power  both 
to  will  and  to  do."  p.  239. 

THE  NEED  OF  COD'S  ADVENT. 

"At  the  time  when  the  Lord  appeared  on  earth, 
'  the  enemy  had  come  in  like  a  flood;'  the  powers 
of  hell  had  risen  to  such  a  height  that  moral  free- 
dom was  wellnigh  lost.  Life  from  God,  coming 
to  man  through  false  and  evil  media,  was  per- 
verted. The  hereditary  propensities  of  mankind, 
entailed  through  so  many  sinful  generations,  were 
becoming  increasingly  corrupt  and  increasingly 
powerful.  To  rescue  man,  God  needed  to  bow 
the  heavens  and  come  down.  To  encounter  the 
enemies  of  man,  He  needed  to  hide  Himself,  to 
veil  his  Divinity  in  man's  nature,  to  be  Immanuel, 
»  o 


98  Episcopalianistn 

God  with  us;  so  that  the  Everlasting  Father  might 
also  become  the  Prince  of  peace."  p.  157. 

WHAT  IS  IT  TO  LOVE  GOD? 

"Love  to  God,  in  its  highest  spiritual  signifi- 
cance, is  love  to  God  for  his  Divine  perfections — 
the  love  of  what  God  is.  We  are  to  love  God, 
not  merely  for  his  benefits  toward  us,  but  for  his 
own  sake — for  the  sake  of  those  loveworthy  quali- 
ties which  constitute  his  Divine  character.  Hence 
genuine  love  to  God  is  the  love  of  goodness  and 
truth;  for  these  in  their  essence  and  origin  are 
Himself.  Whoever  loves  goodness  and  truth  loves 
God ;  and  he  loves  God  just  in  the  degree  and 
manner  in  which  he  loves  goodness  and  truth. 
And  the  command  to  love  God  above  all  things 
is  equivalent  to  this — that  man's  love  for  what  is 
good  and  true  must  be  the  great  controlling  prin- 
ciple of  his  life. 

"Love  to  God,  in  this  sense,  has  a  necessary 
tendency  to  conform  us  to  the  image  of  God. 
True  love,  based  on  appreciation  of  character,  is 
imitative ;  it  seeks  to  resemble  its  object.  Love 
is  the  most  formative  thing  in  the  world,  the  most 
powerful  in  removing  what  is  uncongenial  to  its 


In  Borrowed  Robes.  99 

nature,  and  in  assimilating  all  things  to  itself.  By 
loving  goodness  we^increase  in  goodness;  by  lov- 
ing wisdom  we  increase  in  wisdom ;  by  loving 
holiness  we  increase  in  holiness  ;  by  loving  these 
as  qualities  in  God,  we  become  like  God."  p.  233. 

THE  INFLUENT  LIFE  OF  GOD— ITS  LAW. 

"The  Lord  Himself  is  continually  in  the  desire 
and  endeavor  to  communicate  to  man  the  life  of 
his  own  love.  The  actual  communication  of  this 
life  is  limited,  not  by  the  Lord's  willingness  to 
impart,  but  by  man's  capacity  to  receive.  It  is  a 
law  of  man's  nature  that  he  is  receptive  of  good 
affections  from  the  Lord  only  so  far  as  their  oppo- 
sites  are  removed.  The  Lord  alone  is  able  to  re- 
move man's  evil  loves ;  but  He  can  do  this  only 
so  far  as  man  in  freedom  resists  them  in  himself, 
and  abstains  from  evil  actions  as  sins  against  the 
Lord.  In  proportion,  then,  as  a  man  from  this 
motive  mortifies  his  selfish  and  worldly  loves,  ever 
looking  to  the  Lord  for  help,  the  love  of  God 
and  the  neighbor  will  be  shed  abroad  in  his  heart 
and  be  manifested  in  his  words  and  deeds."  p. 
237- 


ioo  Episcopalianism 

THE  CONDITION  OF  HAPPINESS. 

"Love  is  richest  in  joy  when  we  seek  to  mani- 
fest it  in  deeds  of  love.  Happiness,  whether  here 
or  in  heaven,  is  found  in  the  effort  to  make  others 
happy.  The  law  of  delight  is  the  law  of  use — of 
doing  good  to  others.  By  bringing  us  into  the 
good  and  orderly  state  of  tenderness,  mercy, 
charity,  the  Lord  brings  us  into  blessedness. 
Hence  the  doing  of  good  works  is  immediately 
as  well  as  prospectively  profitable  unto  men. 

"  It  is  true,  however,  that  in  the  beginning  of 
the  regenerate  life,  obedience  springs  from  a  sense 
of  duty  rather  than  from  inclination.  We  have 
to  restrain  ourselves  from  doing  wrong,  and  to 
compel  ourselves  to  do  right.  The  reason  of  this 
is — the  obedience  of  faith  precedes  the  obedience  of 
loi>e.  But  doing  good  from  a  sense  of  duty  is  the 
first  step  toward  doing  good  from  the  love  of 
goodness.  The  habit  of  obeying  the  Lord  from 
the  desire  to  be  and  to  do  good,  opens  the  soul  to 
a  Divine  influx  which  will  gradually  change  the 
character  of  our  motives.  The  obedience  which 
at  first  seemed  hard,  will,  when  the  love  of  good- 
ness becomes  our  ruling  principle  of  action,  be 


In  Borrowed  Robes.  101 

found  a  joyous  service.  We  enter  into  harmony 
with  the  Lord,  and  find  that  '  his  commandments 
are  not  grievous,'  and  that  '  in  keeping  of  them 
there  is  great  reward.'  "  p.  172. 

PR  A  YER. 

"  Prayer  is  not  needed  to  inform  the  omniscient 
Lord  of  our  wants ;  '  for  your  Father  knoweth 
what  things  ye  have  need  of  before  ye  ask  Him.' 
Matt.  v.  8.  Neither  can  it  avail  to  change  the 
purpose  of  the  All-wise,  or  to  make  the  All-loving 
more  gracious  and  willing  to  bless  than  He 'was 
before.  But  though  prayer  does  not  effect  any 
change  in  the  Lord,  yet  it  does  effect  a  most  im- 
portant change  in  man.  In  true  prayer  the  face 
of  man's  spirit  is  turned  toward  the  Lord,  and 
the  mind  and  heart  of  the  petitioner  are  opened 
to  receive  from  the  Lord  the  blessings  adapted  to 
his  state. 

"Besides  making  us  receptive  of  grace  which 
the  Lord  is  ever  willing  to  bestow,  there  is  in 
prayer  itself  a  reflex  benefit.  We  are  the  better 
for  our  prayers,  not  only  through  them  as  a  means 
of  receiving  blessings  from  the  Ix>rd,  but  by  them 
on  account  of  their  own  influence  upon  ourselves. 


i  o  2  Episcopalianism 

This  benefit  is  twofold.  First :  because  true 
prayer  reacts  upon  ourselves  in  confirming  and 
increasing  tKose  spiritual  graces  which  are  exer- 
cised in  prayer  and  find  expression  in  its  words. 
Second  :  because  in  true  prayer  we  hold  commu- 
nion with  God,  and  the  effect  of  such  communion 
is  to  conform  us  to  the  Divine  image.  It  is  an 
invariable  principle  operating  with  the  certainty 
of  cause  and  effect,  that  man  by  worshiping  be- 
comes assimilated  to  the  object  of  his  worship. 

"  Prayer  will  be  ineffectual  without  practice — un- 
less accompanied  by  our  own  endeavors  to  realize 
the  blessings  for  which  we  pray.  By  prayer  we 
seek  from  the  Lord  grace  to  overcome  falsity  and 
evil,  and  to  grow  in  knowledge  and  in  goodness. 
It  is  a  means  of  grace,  and  must  not  be  mistaken 
for  the  end.  Of  what  use  is  it  to  pray  for  pa- 
tience, if  we  do  not  try  to  curb  our  impatience? 
to  pray  for  purity,  if  we  continue  to  indulge  in 
uncleanness?  to  pray  for  charity,  if  we  foster 
unkindness  and  neglect  to  do  charitable  deeds? 
Prayer  for  Christian  graces  -will  be  ineffectual, 
unless  at  the  same  time  we  resist  all  evil  as  sin 
against  the  Lord.  While  a  man  from  this 


In  Borrowed  Robes.  103 

motive  strives  against  evil,  prayer  is  a  most 
efficacious  means  of  attaining  Divine  help.  It 
brings  the  soul  into  a  state  of  humility,  of 
self-distrust,  of  constant  looking  to  the  Lord 
for  strength  and  guidance." — pp.  207-209. 

rRE/'AKA  TlOff  FOR  I/EA  VEN. 

"We  become  fitted  to  enjoy  heaven  by  learning 
to  delight  in  heavenly  things.  The  process  by 
which  this  preparation  is  effected  is  regeneration. 
It  consists  in  the  reception  of  heavenly  love  and 
wisdom  from  the  Lord ;  in  the  formation  in  man 
of  a  truly  heavenly  character,  so  that  all  the  aspi- 
rations and  delights  of  the  soul  shall  become 
heavenly.  Heaven  would  only  l>e  a  place  of 
misery  to  those  who  felt  no  joy  in  heavenly  de- 
lights. Indeed  it  is  easy  to  conceive  that,  to  those 
who  are  destitute  of  truth  and  goodness  and  con- 
firmed in  falsity  and  evil,  heaven  would  be  even 
more  painful  and  horrible  than  hell.  To  the 
drunkard,  the  licentious,  the  covetous,  the  re- 
vengeful, the  society  of  the  temperate,  pure,  gen- 
erous, and  merciful  is  ever  a  source  of  discomfort 
and  even  pain.  They  desire  even  here  to  flee 
from  such,  and  to  associate  with  their  like 


1 04  Episcopalianism 

Death,  which  is  merely  the  putting  off  of  the 
material  body,  makes  no  change  in  a  man's  ruling 
loves.  How  needful  then  it  is  that  we  should  be 
made  '  meet  to  be  partakers  of  the  inheritance  of 
the  saints  in  light.'  "  p.  119. 

THE  TRUE  WORSHIP. 

"The  joys  of  the  redeemed  in  heaven  do  not 
consist  merely  in  vocal  praises  of  the  Most  High. 
Every  act  they  perform  is,  indeed,  an  act  of  wor- 
ship and  adoration;  because  everything  they  do 
is  prompted  by  love  to  God,  is  directed  by  wis- 
dom from  God,  and  is  done  for  the  honor  and 
glory  of  God.  True  worship,  either  in  heaven 
or  on  earth,  does  not  consist  in  vocal  prayer  and 
praise  alone.  We  worship  the  Lord  most  worthily 
when  we  delight  in  doing  his  will.  Our  life  is  a 
life  of  praise  when  we  live  to  the  honor  and  glory 
of  the  Giver  of  all  good  gifts,  who  operates  with- 
in us  both  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure. 
Whatever  be  the  nature  of  the  service  we  may 
there  have  to  perform,  there  can  be  no  question 
that  every  use  and  function  will  enhance  our  hap- 
piness and  deepen  our  gratitude  and  love  to  the 
Lord.  Heavenly  light  will  enable  us  the  better 


In  Borrmved  Robes.  105 

to  understand  the  ways  of  our  Creator  and  Sa- 
viour ;  heavenly  love  will  fill  our  ever-enlarging 
affections ;  heavenly  uses  will  employ  our  ever- 
increasing  powers.  The  Lord's  joy  will  then  be 
in  us,  and  our  joy  will  be  full.  However  actively 
engaged  in  heavenly  ministrations,  the  service  of 
the  Lord  will  be  perfect  freedom ;  our  work  will 
l>e  truly  rest,  because  truly  delightful  to  our  souls." 
pp.  60,  61. 

THE  LAH'  OF  GROWTH  ASD  HAPPINESS. 

"  The  pur]x>se  for  which  our  talents  are  entrusted 
to  us,  is  that  we  may  be  made  mediums  of  blessing 
to  others  ;  and  the  good  Ixml  has  so  ordered,  that 
our  endeavors  to  be  of  use  to  others  react  upon  our- 
seh'es.  The  Ix>rd  is  a  true  economist  in  all  his 
works.  He  so  orders  everything  that  it  shall  sub- 
serve many  purposes.  The  soul  that  does  good  to 
others,  grows  in  goodness.  He  that  is  a  medium 
of  blessing  to  others,  is  himself  blessed  thereby. 
Hence  selfishness  is  folly  as  well  as  sin  ;  for  while 
it  prevents  our  doing  good  to  others,  in  the  same 
degree  it  prevents  our  doing  good  to  ourselves. 

"  In  regard  to  spiritual  gifts,  the  more  we  com- 
municate, the  more  we  shall  receive.  Tht  law  of 


io6  Episcopalianism 

increase  is  the  law  of  use.  The  Saviour  teaches 
this  great  law  in  these  words  :  '  Give,  and  it  shall 
be  given  unto  you ;  good  measure,  pressed  down, 
shaken  together,  and  running  over,  shall  men 
give  into  your  bosom.  For  with  the  same  measure 
that  ye  mete  withal,  it  shall  be  measured  to  you 
again."  Luke  vi.  38.  This  Divine  law  rules  in 
regard  to  spiritual  things,  both  on  earth  and  in 
heaven.  We  must  minister  because  we  have  re- 
ceived ;  and  we  must  minister  that  we  may  receive 
more  abundantly.  In  ministering  to  others  we 
enter  into  the  true  order  of  our  life.  Our  life 
comes  from  God,  who  is  the  universal  Giver.  It 
must  therefore  impel  us  to  give ;  it  must  prompt 
us  to  words  of  help  and  deeds  of  use.  If  we  are 
not  conscious  of  this  impulse,  it  is  because  our 
life,  although  received  from  God,  has  become  per- 
verted in  our  reception  of  it.  The  more  it  retains 
of  the  character  of  its  Divine  original,  the  more 
must  it  impel  us  to  act  in  a  God-like  way,  and 
give.  The  Saviour's  greatness  and  oneness  with 
God  was  shown  in  this,  among  many  other  things, 
that  He  came  "not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to 
minister."  He  was  the  greatest  of  all,  because 


In  Borrowed  Robes.  107 

He  was  the  servant  of  all.  In  seeking  to  resemble 
Him,  we  enter  into  harmony  with  the  Divine  pur- 
pose, which  is  that  all  may  be  blessed,  and  that 
they  may  realize  their  own  blessedness  in  seeking  to 
bless  each  other. 

"We  must,  however,  communicate  to  others  for 
their  sakes,  and  not  merely  to  serve  our  own  ends. 
While  it  is  true  that  they  who  give  are  enriched, 
that  they  who  teach  learn,  that  they  who  help 
grow  strong,  that  they  who  bless  are  blessed  ;  yet 
if  in  giving  we  only  think  of  our  prospective 
gain,  if  in  blessing  we  only  think  of  the  richer 
blessing  we  shall  receive,  the  apparently  unselfish 
act  is  really  a  deed  of  the  most  refined  and  in- 
tense selfishness.  The  selfish  motive  vitiates  the 
efficacy  of  the  seemingly  unselfish  act.  By  the 
universal  law  of  reaction,  that  very  act  only  tends 
to  confirm  our  own  selfishness.  The  love  of  use, 
and  not  the  love  of  self,  should  be  the  leading 
motive  in  all  we  do."  pp.  181-183. 

SPIRITUAL  LIBERTY. 

"  Life  from  God  is  so  imparted  that  it  seems  to 
us  as  if  it  were  independently  our  own.  This  is 
the  case  with  natural  life,  and  it  is  the  case  also 


io8  Episcopalianism 

with  spiritual  life.  While  in  very  truth  '  it  is 
God  that  worketh  in  us  both  to  will  and  to  do,' 
yet  it  seems  to  us  that  both  the  will  and  the  power 
to  do  are  our  own.  The  Lord  thereby  secures  to 
man  a  spiritual  individuality  in  the  good  that  he 
does ;  He  thus  preserves  in  him  spiritual  liberty 
at  the  same  time  that  He  imparts  to  him  spiritual 
good.  The  new  nature  which  prompts  the  Chris- 
tian to  do  good,  seems  to  him  as  truly  his  own,  as 
did  his  former  merely  natural  life.  The  prompt- 
ings of  the  new  heart  and  the  right  spirit  seem  to 
him  as  fully  the  spontaneous  impulses  of  his  own 
will,  as  did  the  prior  promptings  of  his  tinregen- 
erate  mind.  Thus  faith  in  the  Lord  as  the  Source 
of  spiritual  life,  does  not  interfere  with  man's 
liberty.  The  angels  who  realize  with  fullest  con- 
viction that  they  live  only  by  influx  of  life  from 
the  Lord,  are  conscious  of  the  most  perfect  free- 
dom." p.  177. 

THE  ELEMENTS  OF  ANGELIC  LIFE. 

"Love,  wisdom,  and  use  are  the  elements  of 
angelic  life.  In  heaven,  where  the  laws  of  Divine 
order  are  perfectly  obeyed,  love  and  wisdom  re- 
ceived continually  from  the  Lord,  are  ultimated 


In  Borrowed  Robes.  109 

or  find  their  embodiment  in  use.  We  may  know 
but  little  of  what  are  the  employments  of  angels ; 
but  of  this  we  may  be  sure — that  for  those  of  his 
creatures  whom  God  fills  with  love,  He  provides 
others  that  may  be  loved ;  and  for  those  whom 
He  endows  with  superior  wisdom,  He  provides 
others  that  may  be  taught.  Wisdom  is  infinite 
only  in  God.  In  all  created  intelligences  wisdom 
can  exist  only  in  a  relative  degree,  as  more  or  less. 
That  the  Lord  should  make  the  wiser  angels  me- 
diums of  instruction  to  the  less  wise,  does  not 
lower  our  conception  of  the  felicity  and  perfect- 
ness  of  heaven.  Surely  it  may  be  thought  that 
new-coming  spirits  fresh  from  earth,  must  need 
and  may  profit  from  the  loving  instruction  of 
their  elder  brethren  of  the  skies.  The  felicity 
of  heaven,  it  may  well  be  believed,  does  not  con- 
sist merely  in  the  reception  of  'the  manifold 
grace  of  God'  by  each  angel  for  himself,  but 
also  in  '  ministering  the  same  one  to  another, 
as  good  stewards'  thereof. — The  delight  of  the 
natural  man  is  to  get;  the  delight  of  the  spiritual 
man  is  to  give.  The  truly  beneficent  man  is  the 

happiest  man."  p.  184. 
10 


no  Episcopalianism 

ANGELS-AND    THE    LAW    OF    THEIR    FELLOWSHIP 
WITH   MEN. 

"One  thing  our  experience  may  teach  us: 
whenever  we  are  actively  engaged  in  the  uses  of 
charity,  from  the  love  of  doing  good,  we  are  most 
richly  and  consciously  blessed.  The  reason  is, 
that  we  are  thereby  brought  into  association  with 
those  angels  of  the  Lord's  kingdom  who  are  in  the 
love  of  similar  uses ;  and  those  angels  are  made 
to  us  mediums  of  blessings  from  the  Lord  by  im- 
parting to  us  of  their  affections  and  delights. 
Thus  by  the  law  of  spiritual  affinity,  which  draws 
together  those  who  are  animated  by  similar  affec- 
tions, the  angels,  though  unseen,  associate  with  us 
and  fit  us  for  the  higher  uses  of  the  eternal  world. 
In  this  way  they  are  'ministering  spirits,  sent 
forth  to  minister  for  them  who  shall  be  heirs  of 
salvation.'  Heb.  i.  4."  pp.  184,  185. 

GOD'S  PURPOSE  IN  CREATION. 

"  The  moving  cause  of  creation  was  the  Divine 
Love.  The  Lord  did  not  create  the  universe  for 
his  own  sake,  but  because  He  desired  the  exist- 
ence of  beings  in  his  own  image  and  likeness 
whom  He  might  make  happy  from  Himself. 


In  Borrowed  Robes.  in 

Hence  the  ultimate  Divine  purpose  in  creation, 
is  the  formation  of  a  heaven  out  of  the  human 
race.  Thus  earth  rightly  regarded,  is  the  semi- 
nary of  heaven — the  scene  in  which  man  begins 
to  exist,  and  in  which  he  may  develop  an  angelic 
character  to  fit  him  for  the  higher  uses  and  the 
more  exalted  felicities  of  the  eternal  world."  pp. 
245,  246. 

DISCRETE  DEGREES  IN  CREATION. 

"All  things  are  Divine  in  their  origin,  because 
they  are  produced  from  God  by  God ;  but  the 
very  act  of  putting  them  forth//w«  /fimsf/f,  makes 
them  cease  to  be  continuous  with  God,  and  there- 
fore makes  them  not  Divine.  There  are  three 
discrete  degrees  of  substance — viz. :  the  Divine, 
the  Spiritual,  and  the  Natural ;  the  substance  of 
God  himself,  the  substance  of  the  souls  of  men 
and  of  the  spiritual  world,  and  the  substance  of 
the  natural  universe  and  of  all  things  therein.  In 
the  order  of  creation,  the  natural  was  discreted 
from  the  spiritual,  and  the  spiritual  from  the  Divine. 
The  Divine  can  act  upon  or  into  the  spiritual ;  and 
the  spiritual  can  act  upon  or  into  the  natural ;  but 
by  no  process  of  transmutation  or  refinement  can 


ii2  Episcopalianism 

the  natural  become  the  spiritual,  or  the  spiritual 
become  the  Divine.  By  this  doctrine  of  discrete 
degrees  of  substance  we  avoid  the  fundamental 
error  of  Pantheism,  while  adopting  the  great  truth 
which  it  so  imperfectly  expresses.  The  Creator 
is  not  confounded  with  the  creation,  for  the  sub- 
stance of  the  universe  is  not  continuous  from  God. 
Yet  God  is  truly  the  original  and  all-pervading 
life — animating  the  spiritual  degree  of  substance, 
which  is  the  indwelling  and  actuating  principle 
of  all  material  things."  pp.  246,  247. 

A  SPIRITUAL  AND  A  NA  TURAL  WORLD. 

"God  is  the  Great  First  Cause  of  all  things 
that  exist.  The  spiritual  world  exists  in  the  natural 
as  a  cause  in  its  effect.  The  spiritual  world  is  a 
world  of  mediate  causes  acting  in  the  natural 
world,  but  deriving  all  its  power  from  the  Great 
First  Cause,  from  whom  it  originated  and  by  whom 
it  continually  subsists.  Matter  itself,  the  ultimate 
created  substance,  is  dead  and  inert ;  and  all 
forces  by  which  its  inertia  is  overcome,  and  all 
the  active  properties  which  it  seems  to  possess, 
have  a  spiritual  origin.  All  natural  objects  exist 
from  and  arc  actuated  by  corresponding  spiritual 


In  Borrowed  Robes.  113 

essences,  to  which  they  stand  related  as  the  body  of 
a  man  to  his  soul.  Hence  all  things  in  the  animal, 
vegetable  and  mineral  kingdoms  of  nature  have 
their  antitypes  in  the  spiritual  world,  substantial 
spiritual  entities  corresponding  in  all  particulars 
of  organization  with  their  material  types."  p.  247. 

ORIGIN  OF  THINGS  NOXIOUS. 

"This  doctrine  of  influx  from  the  spiritual  world 
accounts  for  the  existence  of  inverted  or  disor- 
derly creations  in  the  material  universe.  None 
of  the  noxious  things  that  exist  on  this  earth  were 
created  by  the  Lord  in  the  beginning,  but  they 
are  all  from  hell.  For,  by  the  law  of  spiritual 
causation,  the  affections  and  thoughts  of  the  in- 
habitants of  the  spiritual  world  give  birth  to  cor- 
responding spiritual  creations,  which  form  the 
objects  and  scenery  round  about  them.  It  is 
through  the  operation  of  this  beneficent  law,  that 
the  members  of  each  heavenly  society  are  sur- 
rounded by  the  beautiful  and  useful  objects  (spir- 
itual, of  course)  in  the  animal,  vegetable,  and 
mineral  kingdoms,  which  are  in  harmony  with 
their  mental  and  moral  states.  But  the  same  law 
of  spiritual  causation  prevails  equally  in  hell, 


ii4  Episcopalianism 

where,  consequently,  the  inhabitants  of  each  in- 
fernal society  see  their  falsities  and  evils  projected 
into  corresponding  external  objects,  which  are 
inversions  of  the  orderly  creations  of  the  heav- 
enly world.  These  spiritual  inversions,  flowing 
into  the  world  of  nature,  become  embodied  in 
material  substance  and  originate  the  various  types 
of  animals,  vegetables,  and  minerals  injurious  to 
man."  p.  248. 

DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

11  Man  in  this  world  is  a  dual  being;  consisting 
of  a  spiritual  and  immortal  part — his  soul ;  and 
of  a  natural  and  mortal  part — his  body.  The 

soul  is  the  real  man,  that  for  a  while  is  tabernacled 

\ 

in  the  flesh.  It  is  the  soul  which  hears,  sees,  feels, 
thinks,  desires,  speaks,  and  acts.  The  body  is  no 
more  than  a  marvelous  material  organism  which 
lives  from  the  soul,  in  which  the  soul  dwells,  and 
by  which  the  soul  remains  in  the  natural  world, 
and  takes  part  in  its  concerns. 

"When  man  is  said  to  die,  it  is  only  the  body 
which  really  dies.  The  reason  is,  that  the  body 
is  no  longer  suited  to  be  a  dwelling-place  for  the 
soul.  The  marvelous  and  mysterious  links  which 


///  Borrowed  Robes.  115 

previously  united  the  soul  to  the  body  are  broken. 
The  soul  takes  its  flight  from  the  body ;  and  as  its 
life  departs,  the  body  dies.  The  body  being  dead, 
truly  means  that  the  soul  has  left  it.  Now  that 
its  life  is  gone,  the  body,  subject  to  the  wonderful 
processes  of  natural  chemistry,  will  waste  away,  de- 
compose and  mingle  with  the  dust.  'Ashes  to 
ashes,  dust  to  dust,'  is,  therefore,  properly  said 
when  the  body  is  placed  in  the  grave. 

"But  the  real  man,  the  soul,  is  not  destroyed 
by  quitting  the  body.  It  remains  a  living,  think- 
ing, loving,  conscious  being,  and  dwells  in  the 
spiritual  world.  If  the  man  has  been  good,  pious, 
and  holy,  if  he  has  believed  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  and  has  striven  to  keep  his  holy  command- 
ments, he  will,  like  Lazarus,  be  'carried  by  an- 
gels into  Abraham's  bosom  ;'  that  is,  he  will  go  to 
heaven.  He  will  enter  into  and  dwell  in  the 
heavenly  mansions  about  which  Jesus  spake  when 
He  said  :  'In  my  father's  house  are  many  man- 
sions :  if  it  were  not  so,  I  would  have  told  you. 
I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you.'  John  xiv.  2. 
He  will  join  the  Church  triumphant,  the  '  innu- 
merable company  of  angels' — 'the  general  assem- 


n6  Episcopalianism 

bly  and  Church  of  the  first  born  which  are  written 
in  heaven ' — '  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect.' 
Heb.  xii.  22,  23. 

"In  that  state  of  happiness  the  man  is  as  truly 
a  man  as  when  he  dwelt  on  earth.  He  is  now  a  spir- 
itual man,  possessing  a  spiritual  body,  dwelling  in 
the  spiritual  world.  The  soul,  when  separated  from 
the  material  body,  is  in  the  human  form.  Hence 
when  Moses  appeared  to  Peter,  James,  and  John, 
ministering  to  the  Lord  in  the  mount  of  transfigura- 
tion, although  his  material  body — '  the  earthly  house- 
of  this  tabernacle' — was  dissolved,  having  been 
buried  '  in  a  valley  in  the  land  of  Moab,  over  against 
Bethpeor'  (Deut.  xxiv.  6),  more  than  fourteen 
hundred  years  before,  yet  Moses  was  still  in  the 
human  form.  By  death  man  ceases  not  to  be 
human.  We  may  be  sure  that  he  possesses  in  the 
other  life  all  that  is  essential  to  his  existence  as  a 
man — memory,  consciousness,  intelligence,  and 
affection,  in  a  spiritual  body  adapted  to  the  spir- 
itual world.  In  the  case  of  those  who  have  been 
truly  members  of  the  Lord's  Church,  servants 
and  disciples  of  the  Saviour,  there  can  be  no 
question  that  their  faculties  are  purified  and  ex- 


In  Borrowed  Robts.  117 

alted  far  beyond  any  perfection  attainable  on 
earth.  Their  capacity  for  joy  is  enlarged ;  the 
joys  they  experience  are  beyond  all  comparison 
higher  and  holier ;  and  of  the  increase  of  their 
blessedness  there  shall  be  no  end."  pp.  58-60. 

THE  JUDGMENT  AFTER  DEA  TH. 

"The  judgment  after  death  is  not  merely  a 
judicial  act  by  which  every  one  is  at  once  as- 
signed his  final  abode,  but  it  is  a  process  of  ex- 
ploration and  development  by  which  the  exteriors 
of  the  spirit  are  gradually  brought  into  agreement 
with  its  interiors;  by  which  the  genuine  internal 
character  is  brought  forth  to  view ;  until  the 
Lord's  words  are  fully  verified  in  each  individual 
case :  '  There  is  nothing  covered  that  shall  not  be 
m'f aled ;  neither  hid  that  shall  not  be  known* 
Luke  xii.  2.  The  design  of  the  judgment  is  thus 
to  bring  the  externals  of  human  character  into 
exact  conformity  or  correspondence  with  the  inner 
life;  to  abolish  all  artificial,  assumed,  and  merely 
apparent  distinctions  among  men ;  and  to  estab- 
lish on  the  basis  of  internal  and  spiritual  realities 
the  conditions  under  which  they  will  thenceforth 


n8  Episcopalianism 

exist,   and   the   associates   with   whom   they  will 
thenceforth  consort. 

' '  The  Lord  is  truly  the  Author  of  this  judg- 
ment; God  is  'the  Judge  of  all.'  The  means  by 
which  this  judgment  is  effected,  is  an  influx  into 
the  soul  of  the  light  of  Divine  Truth  from  the 
Lord,  impelling  every  one  to  think,  speak,  and  act 
under  the  influence  of  his  ruling  love,  and  thus 
revealing  both  to  himself  and  others  the  true  qual- 
ity of  his  life.  In  this  world  every  man  is  able 
more  or  less  to  conceal  his  real  character,  and  in 
his  words  and  actions  to  assume  an  exterior  con- 
formable to  the  laws  of  social  order  by  which 
society  is  governed  and  preserved.  The  power 
of  hiding  from  others  our  interior  thoughts  and 
feelings  during  our  probation  here,  is  a  merciful 
arrangement  of  Divine  Providence ;  for  it  not 
only  enables  us  to  form  a  basis  of  natural  goodness 
on  which  may  be  built  the  spiritual  superstructure 
of  a  heavenly  character,  but  it  likewise  permits 
the  associations  of  this  life  to  proceed  in  an  ex- 
ternal way  of  peace  which  would  otherwise  be 
impossible.  If  the  light  of  Divine  Truth  from 
the  Lord  so  shone  into  the  minds  of  men  in  this 


In  Borrowed  Robes.  119 

world  as  to  impel  every  one  by  word  and  deed  to 
disclose  his  inner  thoughts  and  feelings  to  his  fel- 
low-men, abolishing  thereby  all  those  merely  ex- 
ternal restraints,  courtesies,  and  attachments  which 
now  subsist,  society  would  be  dislocated.  A  new 
distribution  of  mankind  would  immediately  ensue; 
those  only  who  resembled  each  other  in  internal 
character  would  associate ;  the  good  would  have 
fellowship  only  with  the  good,  and  the  evil  only 
with  the  evil.  In  such  case,  instead  of  being  as 
now  a  mixed  state — a  sort  of  common  ground  or 
mutual  meeting-place  where  both  the  good  and 
the  evil  can  come  into  contact  and  maintain  social 
and  amicable  intercourse  with  each  other,  the 
world  would  become  a  theatre  where  all  the  good 
were  assembled  in«one  place — a  heaven;  and  all 
the  wicked  in  another  place — a  hell"  pp.  228, 
229. 

~  /tELL-A.\'D  ITS  PUMSHMEffTS. 

11  There  is  no  contradiction  to  the  harmony  of 
the  Divine  attributes  in  the  fact  that  Divine  Justice 
provides  for  the  punishment  of  sin.  It  is  the 
highest  mercy  to  punish  the  sinner  whom  nothing 
but  punishment  could  restrain  from  wickedness. 


I2O  Episcopalianism 

The  more  certainly  that  wickedness  is  disorder 
and  that  disorder  is  productive  of  misery,  the  more 
certainly  that  obedience  is  order  and  that  order  is 
productive  of  happiness — the  more  certainly  true 
it  is  that  mercy  must  seem  cruel  to  be  kind. 
Punishment  is  not  an  end  of  itself;  it  is  but  a 
means  to  an  end  ;  and  that  end  is  altogether  mer- 
ciful. Punishment  -which  is  merely  vindictive  and 
without  merciful  ends  in  view,  has  no  place  in  the 
Divine  government. 

"  Even  the  punishments  of  hell  are  no  exception 
to  the  operation  of  the  Divine  Mercy.  The  notion 
of  hell  as  a  place  of  arbitrary  punishment  eternally 
inflicted  by  an  implacable  Deity  for  past  acts  of 
wickedness  committed  during  the  sinner's  life  on 
earth — however  apparently  supported  by  the  letter 
of  Scripture — is  utterly  untenable.  There  is  in- 
deed punishment  in  hell ;  but  it  is  such  punish- 
ment for  present  acts  of  wickedness  as  is  repK&ssive 
and  restraining  only,  and  thus  altogether  merciful. 
God  sends  no  one  to  hell ;  but  all  who  go  down 
to  that  world  of  death,  go  there  of  their  own 
choice,  drawn  to  their  associates  in  evil  by  the 
attraction  of  their  ruling  loves.  Those  passages 


In  Bornnveii  Robes.  \  2 1 

of  Scripture  which,  in  the  literal  sense,  seem  to 
assert  that  God  commands  the  wicked  to  be  cast 
into  outer  darkness  and  the  tormenting  flame,  are 
accommodations  of  language  to  the  natural  ideas 
of  men.  In  so  far  as  it  is  a  law  of  Divine  order 
that  in  the  other  world,  as  indeed  in  this,  men 
shall  desire  and  strive  to  be  with  their  like,  and 
shall  seek  for  and  prefer  to  abide  with  such — in 
that  sense  Ciod  commands  the  consequence  in  in- 
stituting the  law.  But  the  law  is  merciful,  both  in 
its  purpose  and  in  its  o|>eration  ;  for  by  virtue  of 
this  law  all  the  associations  of  heaven  afc  formed; 
and  even  in  the  associations  of  hell  the  lost  spirit 
is  less  miserable  than  he  would  IK-  in  heaven.  The 
suffering  of  the  infernals  is  a  dread  reality,  the 
necessary  consequence  of  their  disorderly  and  evil 
state:  but  the  Divine  mercy  is  present  even  in 
hell,  ojxTating  through  the  inevitable  law  by 
which  evil  punishes  itself,  to  restrain  them  from 
the  excess  of  evil  which  would  aggravate  their 
misery.  Fear  of  punishment  is  the  only  restrain- 
ing motive  in  beings  confirmed  in  evil;  and  the 
Divine  mercy  ever  seeking  to  limit  the  raging  of 
their  lusts,  and  thus  to  save  them  from  increase 
n 


122  Episcopalianism 

of  suffering,  uses  that  motive  as  the  only  means  to 
this  beneficent  end."  pp.  223,  224. 

APPARENT  TRUTHS  IN  SCRIPTURE. 

"  There  are  two  classes  of  statements  in  the 
letter  of  the  Word — those  in  which  the  truth  is 
openly  and  absolutely  expressed  :  and  those  which 
convey  the  truth,  not  as  it  is  absolutely,  but  as  it 
appears  to  the  minds  of  men  in  a  low  moral  and 
intellectual  state.  We  may  conveniently  style  the 
former  genuine  and  the  latter  apparent  truths. 
The  necessity  and  advantage  of  this  distinction 
will  be  seen  in  applying  it  to  the  descriptions  in 
the  Word  of  the  moral  character  of  God. 

"  The  purpose  of  the  existence  in  the  Bible  of 
apparent  truths  in  relation  to  God,  is  clear — viz. : 
to  reach  minds  in  a  low  moral  and  intellectual 
condition,  who  can  think  of  God  in  no  other  way. 
Although  the  understanding  may  be  elevated 
above  the  will,  so  that  we  can  see  the  excellence 
we  have  not  realized  in  ourselves,  yet  all  men, 
more  or  less,  picture  to  themselves  a  God  in  their 
own  image ;  so  that,  in  this  sense  it  is  true :  '  With 
the  merciful  Thou  wilt  show  Thyself  merciful ; 
with  an  upright  man  Thou  wilt  show  Thyself  up- 


///  Borrowed  Robes.  123 

right ;  with  the  pure  Thou  wilt  show  Thyself  pure ; 
and  with  the  froward  Thou  wilt  show  Thyself 
froward.'  Ps.  xviii.  25,  26.  Only  so  far  as  the 
Divine  characteristics  are  revealed  in  us,  can  they 
be  spiritually  discerned.  While  others  may  have 
a  si>eculative  knowledge  of  the  Di  vine  perfect  ions, 
only  the  loving  can  really  know  God  in  his  Divine 
love,  only  the  wise  can  know  Him  in  his  Divine 
wisdom,  only  the  holy  can  know  Him  in  his 
Divine  holiness.  As  men  grow  up  into  the  Divine 
image  and  likeness,  in  the  same  proportion  their 
Inceptions  of  the  Divine  nature  deepen  and  be- 
come exalted.  To  the  wicked  God  appears  what 
He  really  is  not — terrible,  jealous,  full  of  wrath ; 
while  to  the  good  He  appears  what  He  really  is — 
altogether  loving,  gracious,  full  of  compassion, 
the  Divine  Father,  whose  love  is  deeper  and  more 
tender  than  that  of  a  woman  for  her  first-born. 
Being  born  again,  they  sec  the  kingdom  of  God ; 
being  pure  in  heart,  they  see  God ;  being  lifted 
into  heavenly  light,  they  recognize  their  Father  in 
heaven.  By  accommodating  the  verbal  revelation 
of  Himself  to  the  states  and  capacities  of  men, 
God  has  provided  a  means  by  which  all  may  be 


124  Episcopalianism 

reached,  and  by  which  all  may  be  enabled  to  be- 
lieve. The  lower  view  will  give  place  to  the 
higher  as  men,  through  faithfulness  to  the  light 
they  have,  become  more  and  more  receptive  of  the 
higher."  pp.  113-115. 

APPARENT  TRUTHS  IN  NATURE. 

"In  the  book  of  Nature  as  well  as  of  Revela- 
tion, we  are  compelled  to  distinguish  between 
genuine  and  apparent  truths ;  and  in  the  sun, 
which  is  a  symbol  of  the  Lord,  we  have  a  very 
close  analogy  strikingly  illustrative  of  the  subject 
before  us.  The  sun,  which  is  gloriously  refulgent 
in  an  unclouded  sky,  appears  red  and  lowering 
when  obscured  by  fog ;  but  there  is  no  change  in 
the  sun  itself.  It  is  thus  with  the  unchangeable 
God  under  the  different  aspects  in  which  he  ap- 
pears to  men.  Seen  through  the  clear  spiritual 
atmosphere  of  love  and  truth,  God  is  love,  immu- 
table love ;  seen  through  the  fog  and  mist  of  evil, 
He  appears  to  be  angry,  wrathful,  at  enmity  with 
man.  When  man  changes  in  his  spiritual  condi- 
tion, and  from  his  changed  condition  thinks  of 
the  Lord,  it  seems  to  him  as  though  the  Lord  had 
changed.  To  conclude  from  appearances  that  the 


In  Borrowed  Robes.  135 

Lord  changes,  is  as  great  a  fallacy  as  to  conclude 
from  appearances  that  the  sun  moves  round  the 
earth.  The  absolute  truth  is  that  the  sun  in 
respect  to  the  earth  is  stationary;  the  sun  only 
appears  to  move,  and  the  real  change  is  in  the 
earth  itself  which  seems  to  be  so  immovable. 
The  sun  changes  not;  the  Lord  changes  not. 
The  sun  seems  to  change,  waxing  and  waning  in 
brightness  and  in  heat ;  now  coming  nearer,  then 
retiring  farther  from  us;  now  effulgent  in  the 
noontide,  then  altogether  gone  in  the  obscurity  of 
night.  Got!,  in  like  manner,  seems  to  change ; 
now  shedding  forth  light  and  love,  then  frowning 
and  angry ;  now  very  near  to  our  souls,  then  far 
removed  from  us ;  now  causing  the  soul's  noontide 
of  love  and  glory,  then  leaving  the  soul  to  mourn 
his  absence  during  its  dark  cold  night.  The 
change  of  the  earth's  place  and  position  is  the  real 
cause  of  the  apparent  changes  of  the  sun ;  and 
variation  in  man's  spiritual  condition  is  the  real 
cause  of  changes  which  seem  to  take  place  in 
God.  God  is  unchangeable ;  the  changes  take 
place  in  us.  He  has  hung  his  unchanging  image 
in  the  natural  firmament  to  be -an  unalterable 
11  * 


ia6  Episcopalianism 

witness  to  his  universal  operation,  to  be  the  very 
analogue  of  the  light  and  heat,  the  truth  and  good- 
ness, which  He  continually  pours  out  on  all  man- 
kind. The  appearance  of  change  in  the  sun  does 
no  injury  to  him  who  believes  that  the  appearance 
is  a  reality.  The  time  may  come  when  the  reality 
will  be  known  and  the  appearance  will  be  ex- 
plained. So  the  apparent  truths  of  the  Bible  in 
relation  to  God,  if  the  highest  of  which  the  mind 
is  capable,  do  no  injury  to  him  who  believes 
them.  They  only  become  hurtful  when  he  who 
has  once  believed  them,  is  thereby  confirmed  in 
his  rejection  of  the  higher  truths."  pp.  215-17. 

And  much  more  might  be  quoted  from  this 
precious  book,  similar  in  character  to  the  fore- 
going. But  it  is  needless  to  multiply  quotations. 
For  obvious  reasons  which  I  need  not  mention,  I 
have  already  quoted  liberally.  I  have  shown,  by 
brief  extracts,  what  this  writer's  views  are  on 
more  than  twenty  different  topics — some  of  them 
vital,  and  all  of  them  important  and  interesting 
religious  questions.  I  have  never  seen  nor  held 
any  correspondence  with  the  author ;  but  I  know 


In  Borrowed  Robes.  127 

from  this  book,  that — though  he  be  a  recognized 
minister  of  the  Episcopal  Church — he  is  not  only 
familiar  with  the  writings  of  Swedenborg,  but  an 
intelligent  and  cordial  receiver  of  his  teachings. 
Who  cannot  see  that  the  views  in  the  foregoing 
extracts  are  totally  different  from  those  commonly 
taught  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  or  to 
be  found  in  any  of  its  accepted  authorities?  You 
may  search  the  entire  religious  literature  of  this 
Church  back  to  the  days  of  the  apostles,  and  you 
shall  nowhere  meet  with  any  such  views.  Yet 
every  one  of  them  arc  to  be  found  distinctly  set 
forth  in  the  writings  of  Swedenborg. 

Possibly  the  reader  may  not  be  able  to  accept 
for  truth  everything  taught  in  these  extracts.  If 
he  is  much  confirmed  in  any  of  the  old  theologies, 
he  cannot.  Hut  of  this  I  am  certain,  that  every  in- 
telligent and  candid  mind,  when  assured  that  these 
extracts  are  all  in  exact  agreement  with  the  teach- 
ings of  Swedenborg  and  give  a  corrert  idea  of  the 
general  spirit  and  scoj>e  of  his  writings,  will  dc- 
cide  that  he  was  as  far  removed  from  cither  a 
"blasphemer"  or  a  "monomaniac,"  as  light  is 
from  darkness  or  heaven  from  hell.  I  am  sure 


128  Episcopalianism 

that,  when  his  theological  system  is  characterized 
as  "one  vast,  utter  delusion,  resting  on  the  spec- 
ulations and  dreams  of  one  who  would  have  been 
justly  deemed  a  blasphemer  if  he  had  not  been  a 
monomaniac,"  the  spontaneous  verdict  of  every 
such  mind  will  be,  that  the  man  who  wrote  this, 
RIGHT  REVEREND  though  he  be  styled,  wrote  from 
prejudice  or  ignorance,  or  possibly  from  both  of 
these  combined. 

It  is  the  highest  testimony  that  an  Episcopal 
minister  could  give  to  the  truth  and  importance 
of  Swedenborg's  doctrinal  teachings,  to  publish 
so  many  of  them  as  Mr.  Browning  has  in  this  de- 
lightful volume,  but  with  no  allusion  whatever  to 
the  great  Swede  or  his  writings.  Call  the  con- 
tents of  this  book  Episcopalianism  if  you  will; — it 
matters  little  under  what  name  God's  truth  is 
preached,  so  it  be  spread  broadcast  among  the 
people.  But  it  certainly  is  a  very  different  sort 
of  Episcopalianism  from  that  presented  in  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles.  It  is  Episcopalianism  ar- 
rayed in  the  "fine  linen,  and  silk,  and  broidered 
work"  of  the  New  Jerusalem — EPISCOPALIANISM 

IN    BORROWED    ROBES. 


PART    III. 
EPISCOPAL IAXISM  AT    THE   CONFESSIONAL. 

SINCE  the  time  that  Swedenborg  wrote,  a  num- 
ber of  Episcopal  ministers  have  read  his  works, 
and  have  frankly  confessed  that  they  never  found 
in  Episcopalian  ism  or  elsewhere  such  light  and 
comfort  and  peace  .and  joy  as  they  had  found  in 
his  writings.  Some  of  these  have  separated  them- 
selves formally  from  the  Episcopal  Church,  and 
joined  the^new  organization  commonly  called 
"the  New  Church."  Others  have  thought  they 
<ould  l>e  more  useful  by  remaining  in  their  old 
ecclesiastical  connection,  and  have  done  so, — 
preaching  there  the  Word  of  God  as  unfolded  by 
Swedenborg's  spiritual  exegesis. 

One  of  the  most  distinguished  of  these  non-sep- 
aratists was  Rev.  John  Clowes,  who  was  the  be- 
loved Rector  of  St.  John's  Church,  Manchester, 
I  129 


1 30  Episcopalianism 

(England),  for  nearly  sixty-two  years;  and  for 
more  than  fifty  of  these  years,  a  diligent  student 
of  and  a  firm  believer  in  the  spiritual  teachings  of 
Swedenborg.  As  some  evidence  of  the  saintly 
character  of  Mr.  Clowes,  and  of  the  esteem  in 
which  he  was  held  by  his  parishioners,  we  are  told 
that  a  Marble  Tablet  was,  by  resolution,  placed  in 
the  church  not  long  after  his  decease,  which,  be- 
sides six  figures  in  bas-relief,  beautifully  executed 
in  marble,  contained  the  following  inscription : 

Saerro  to  %  gltmorg  of 
THE    REVEREND  JOHN    CLOWES,    M.    A. 

,  RECTOR   OF   THE   PARISH   CHURCH   OF   ST.    JOHN'S 

(HIS    FIRST   AND    ONLY   CURB    OF   SOULS) 
DURING   THH   EXTRAORDINARY    TERM 

OF  SIXTY-TWO   YEARS. 
HE  WAS    BORN   3IST   OCT.,    1743,    AND    DIED   ZgTH    MAY,    1831. 

HE   WAS   A   SAINT 

IN   WHOM    THE  WORK   OF    RIGHTEOUSNESS   WAS   EXPRESSED 
"BY    PURENESS,    BY  KNOWLEDGE,    BY  LONG-SUFFERING.    BY  KINDNESS, 

BY   THE    HOLY   GHOST,    BY    LOVE    UNFEIGNED." 

AS   A    LEARNED   SCHOLAR,    A    FINISHED   GENTLEMAN,    A    LUMINOUS 
WRITER,  AN    IMPRESSIVE    PREACHER,  A  VIGILANT    PASTOR,  A  SPIRITUAL 

MORALIST,    AND    A    PRACTICAL  CHRISTIAN    DIVINE, 

HE   GAVE   REAL   EVIDENCE   THAT    "GODLINESS    HATH    THE 

PROMISE   OF    THE    LIFE   THAT   NOW    IS,    AND   OF 

THAT   WHICH    IS   TO  COME." 


HE    PASSED   THROUGH    THIS   EARTH    IN    JOY   AND   THANKSGIVING, 
EXPERIENCING,    TO    HIS    GREAT    BLESSEDNESS,    EVEN    TO   THE    END, 

THAT  "THE  PATH  OF  THE  JUST  is  AS  SHINING  LIGHT,  WHICH 

SHINETH    MORE   AND    MORE   UNTO   THE    PERFECT   DAY." 


THE   ABOVE   MONUMENT   WAS    ERECTED 

AT  THE   EXPENSE  OF    HIS    PARISHIONERS   AND    FRIENDS, 

TO   TESTIFY    THEIR    LOVE   OF   THE   MAN,    AND   TO   RECORD   IN   THIS 

CHURCH    THE    FAITHFULNESS   OF   HIS   MINISTRY. 


At  the  Confessional.  131 

Among  the  obituary  notices  of  him  which  ap- 
peared in  the  English  papers  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  was  one  in  the  Manchester  Courier,  from 
which  the  following  is  an  extract : 

-  In  zeal,  in  tenderness,  in  piety,  in  wis- 
dom, in  activity,  in  usefulness ; — as  a  friend,  a 
counselor,  a  pastor,  a  spiritual  father,  and  an  ex- 
emplary pattern  of  all  holy  living,  Mr.  Clowes' 
superior  was  not  to  be  found;  it  would  be  difficult 
to  name  his  equal. 

"lie  was  a  scholar,  a  philosopher,  a  finished 
gentleman,  a  luminous  writer,  an  impressive 
preacher,  a  practical  Christian  divine. 

"In  him  the  elements  of  an  originally  happy 
nature  were  sweetly  blended  ;  tempered  and  richly 
adorned  by  an  abundant  portion  of  the  spirit  of 
divine  grace;  holiness  had  attained  great  heights 
— first  principles  had  gone  on  unto  perfection. 

"  —  -  In  recording  the  excellence  of  this  ven- 
erable man  and  truly  apostolic  minister,  it  may  be 
allowed  to  mark,  as  prominent  features  of  a  cha- 
racter in  which  all  was  lovely,  his  child-like  sim- 
plicity, his  singleness  of  heart,  the  elevation  of 
his  devotion,  the  cheerfulness  of  his  piety,  the 


132  Episcopalianism 

beauty  of  his  holiness,  the  charity  of  his  zeal,  his 
bright  imagination,  his  lively  fancy,  the  ease  of 
his  seriousness,  the  innocence  of  his  mirth,  the 
purity  of  his  exuberant  joy. 

"  He  was  admirable  in  all  the  faculties  and 
powers  of  an  enlightened  mind ;  but  the  charm 
by  which  he  won  and  ruled  the  hearts  of  all  was 
that  grace  in  man  which  is  the  nearest  image  on 
earth  of  a  holy  and  merciful  God, — the  boundless 
benevolence  of  a  truly  catholic  spirit. 

"  This  admirable  person  enjoyed  in  a  singular 
degree  through  life,  the  respect  and  affection  of 
all  by  whom  he  was  known  ;  but  in  an  especial 
manner,  the  veneration  of  his  own  flock,  over 
which  (and  it  was  his  first  and  only  cure  of  souls) 
he  was,  by  God's  providence,  the  shepherd  for  the 
very  unusual  term  of  nearly  sixty-two  years." 

And  this  estimable  man  and  much  beloved  Rec- 
tor, was  an  affectionate  receiver  of  the  spiritual 
doctrines  and  philosophy  of  Swedenborg  for  more 
than  fifty  years.  He  taught  them  openly  from  his 
pulpit  as  the  genuine  doctrines  of  Christianity. 
He  wrote  many  letters  about  them  to  his  friends. 
He  conversed  and  lectured  on  them  upon  all 


At  the  Confessional.  133 

suitable  occasions.  Probably  no  other  man  ever 
did  so  much  as  he  toward  propagating  these  doc- 
trines. Besides  translating  from  the  Latin  eighteen 
volumes  of  Swedcnborg's  works,  he  wrote  and 
published  more  than  forty  works  of  his  own  (in- 
cluding pamphlets)  in  explanation  and  defence  of 
the  New  Theology. 

Of  course  he  met  with  much  opposition  and 
bitter  persecution.  At  one  time  there  were  three 
clergymen  in  his  neighborhood,  who  held  regular 
weekly  meetings  for  the  purpose  of  crushing  "  the 
growing  heresy."  The  most  unfounded  rumors 
respecting  Swedenborg  and  his  doctrines,  and  the 
most  bitter  and  scurrilous  invectives,  emanated 
from  this  source  almost  daily.  Nor  were  his  per- 
secutors content  with  employing  their  tongues 
only ;  they  had  recourse  to  their  pens.  They 
wrote  and  published  a  pamphlet  in  which  they 
endeavored  to  prove  that  the  writings  of  Sweden- 
borg were  opposed  to  religion  and  common  sense. 
Mr.  Clowes  at  once  replied  to  this  pamphlet. 
They  next  appealed  to  the  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Porteus, 
then  Bishop  of  the  Diocese,  preferring,  in  a  formal 
manner,  the  four  following  charges  against  Mr. 
12 


134  Episcopalianism 

Clowes:  ist,  that  he  denied  the  Trinity ;  ad,  that 
he  denied  the  Atonement ;  3d,  that  he  went  about 
the  country  endeavoring  to  propagate  the  New 
Doctrines  ;  4th,  that  he  had/m'<z/<?  meetings  at  his 
own  house  for  the  same  purpose.  Mr.  Clowes  was 
accordingly  summoned  to  appear  before  the  Bishop 
to  answer  to  these  charges.  He  appeared  and  an- 
swered— in  a  manner,  it  is  said,  quite  satisfactory 
to  the  Bishop,  who  is  reported  to  have  said  after- 
ward, that  he  "wished  there  were  many  more 
John  Clowes  in  his  diocese."  This  damped  the 
ardor  of  his  persecutors ;  and  from  that  time  he 
was  permitted  to  preach  and  publish  his  own  sen- 
timents without  further  molestation.  But  the  re- 
sult might  have  been  otherwise,  had  not  the  Bishop 
himself  been  favorably  disposed  toward  the  New 
Theology. 

Mr.  Clowes  began  to  read  Swedenborg  with  in- 
terest in  the  fourth  year  after  he  accepted  the  rec- 
torship of  St.  John's  Church.  "  The  True  Chris- 
tian Religion"  was  the  first  work  he  read;  and 
the  following  is  his  own  account  of  the  effect  it 
produced  upon  him : 

"It  is  impossible  for  any  language  to  express 


At  tht  Confessional.  135 

the  full  effect  wrought  in  my  mind  by  the  penisal 
of  this  wonderful  book.  Suffice  it,  therefore,  to 
observe,  that,  in  proceeding  from  the  chapter  on 
the  Creator  and  on  Creation  to  the  succeeding 
chapters — it  seemed  as  if  a  continually  increasing 
blaze  of  new  and  recreating  light  was  poured  forth 
on  the  delighted  understanding,  opening  it  to  the 
contemplation  of  the  most  sublime  mysteries  of 
wisdom,  and  convincing  it  of  the  being  of  a  God, 
of  the  existence  of  an  eternal  world,  of  the  interior 
sanctities  of  the  Holy  Scripture,  of  the  true  nature 
of  Creation,  Redemption,  and  Regeneration,  in  a 
manner  and  degree,  and  with  a  force  of  satisfac- 
tory evidence,  in  which  those  interesting  subjects 
had  never  been  viewed  before.  The  mind  was  no 
longer  perplexed  about  the  proj>er  Object  of  its 
worship.  All  difficulties  and  doubts  were  removed 
resjxxting  the  Sacred  Scripture,  or  Word  of  God, 
through  the  bright,  and  heretofore  unseen,  mani- 
festation of  their  spiritual  and  interior  contents,  by 
virtue  of  which  discovery  apparent  inconsistencies 
vanished,  apparent  contradictions  were  recon- 
ciled ;  and  what  before  seemed  trivial  and  nuga- 
tory, assumed  a  new  and  interesting  aspect;  whilst 


136  Episcopalianism 

the  whole  volume  of  Revelation  was  seen  to  be 
full  of  sanctity,  of  wisdom,  and  of  love  from  its 
divine  Author,  and  also  to  be  in  perpetual  con- 
nection with  that  Author,  who  is  its  inmost  soul — 
its  essential  spirit  and  life. ' ' 

And  during  the  remainder  of  his  life  (nearly 
sixty  years)  he  was  a  diligent  student  and  faithful 
teacher  of  the  Doctrines  of  Heaven  as  taught  by 
Swedenborg,  or  unfolded  in  the  internal  sense  of 
the  Word.  To  cite  again  his  own  words : 

"No  sooner  had  I  finished  the  perusal  of  the 
Tnie  Christian  Religion,  than  the  treatise  on 
Heaven  and  Hell,  the  Arcana  Ccelestia,  the  Apoc- 
alypse Revealed,  the  Angelic  Wisdom  concerning 
the  Divine  Love  and  Wisdom,  and  also  concern- 
ing the  Divine  Providence,  the  Delights  of  Wis- 
dom concerning  Conjugial  Love,  etc.,  with  other 
minor  works  by  the  same  author,  were  successively 
read,  or  rather  devoured,  and  as  constantly  ex- 
cited wonder,  delight,  and  edification.  At  the 
same  time  a  strong  and  ardent  desire  was  enkin- 
dled to  put  others  in  possession  of  the  same  sources 
of  heavenly  intelligence." 

Here  we  have  the  confession  of  one  of  the  purest 


At  the  Confessional.  137 

and  best  of  men  that  ever  lived,  and  one  who  was 
capable  of  judging  between  the  Old  and  the  New 
Theology— or  between  the  doctrines  taught  by  the 
Anglican  Church  and  those  taught  by  Sweden- 
borg ; — the  confession  of  an  ordained  minister  in 
the  Episcopal  Church.  He  knew  Episcopalian- 
ism  from  beginning  to  end.  He  had  been  fa- 
miliar with  its  doctrines  from  childhood ;  had 
studied  and  preached  them  for  several  years. 
He  understood  equally  well,  too,  the  doctrines 
and  philosophy  of  the  New  Church  as  unfolded  in 
the  writings  of  Swedenborg ;  for  he  had  made 
himself  thoroughly  acquainted  with  these  by  long 
and  patient  study.  And  what  is  his  confession? 
Why,  that  "  Episcopalianism"  as  compared  with 
"  Swedenborgianism,"  is  as  darkness  to  light — is 
delusive  and  superficial  and  empty  and  unsatisfy- 
ing. And  in  respect  to  the  great  doctrines  of 
Christianity — the  doctrines  concerning  God,  the 
Sacred  Scripture,  the  Spiritual  World,  Creation, 
Redemption,  Regeneration,  etc. — he  confesses 
that  the  perusal  of  Swcdenborg's  True  Christian 
Religion  had  opened  his  mind  to  the  contempla- 
tion of  sublime  mysteries  of  wisdom  "  in  a  man- 


138  Episcopalianism 

ner  and  degree,  and  with  a  force  of  satisfactory 
evidence,  in  which  those  interesting  subjects  had 
never  been  viewed  before. ' ' 

And  before  his  death  this  saintly  man  wrote  an 
"AFFECTIONATE  ADDRESS  TO  THE  CLERGY,"  urg- 
ing them  for  their  own  sakes  as  well  as  for  the 
sake  of  the  Lord's  kingdom  on  earth,  to  give  the 
writings  of  Swedenborg  a  patient  and  prayerful 
examination.  His  appeal  to  his  brother  ministers 
is  so  affectionate  and  earnest,  and  the  request  he 
makes  is  so  reasonable,  that  I  offer  no  apology  for 
introducing  liberal  extracts  from  it  here.  He 
writes : 

"REV.  BRETHREN, — Deeply  impressed  with 
veneration  for  your  sacred  character  as  minis- 
ters of  the  truth,  and  with  as  real  a  concern 
for  the  interests  of  that  truth  of  which  you  are 
the  ministers,  I  feel  myself  induced  by  many 
powerful  and  pressing  motives,  to  call  your  at- 
tention for  a  moment  to  a  few  considerations 
respecting  the  theological  writings  of  Emanuel 
Swedenborg,  so  far  as  the  contents  of  those  writ- 
ings appear  to  me  more  immediately  to  affect 


At  the  Confessional.  139 

the  duties  imposed  on  you  by  your  holy  func- 
tions and  high  station. 

"  You  are  in  a  peculiar  sense  the  Ministers  of 
God,  entrysled  with  the  oracles  of  his  Word,  and 
commissioned  to  read,  to  meditate  upon,  to  un- 
derstand, to  preach  and  explain,  the  laws  of  the 
eternal  wisdom  therein  contained.  From  you  the 
people  receive  the  interpretation  of  those  laws, 
and  their  understanding  of  them  must  needs,  in  a 
great  measure,  depend  on  yours.  If  the  light  which 
is  in  you  be  darkness,  the  light  which  is  in  the 
people  will  most  probably  be  darkness  also ;  but 
if  your  bodies  be  full  of  light,  it  may  then  be  rea- 
sonably expected  that  those  of  the  people  will  be 
likewise  full  of  light.  The  state,  therefore,  of  re- 
ligious knowledge  in  the  land,  will  ever  take  its 
standard  from  you,  and  of  consequence,  whatso- 
ever is  connected  with  religious  knowledge  has  a 
peculiar  claim  upon  your  attention,  and  you  must 
necessarily  feel  yourselves  bound  by  every  motive 
of  duty  and  good  conscience  to  take  cognizance 
thereof  in  the  fear  of  God,  and  out  of  due  regard 
to  the  interests  of  that  truth  with  which  you  are 
more  especially  entrusted.  .  .  . 


140  Episcopalianism 

"The  theological  writings  in  question  are  con- 
fessedly of  a  religious  kind,  treating  on  religious 
subjects;  and  containing  various  and  interesting 
explications  of  the  WORD  OF  GOD,  which  is  the 
divine  fountain  and  foundation  of  all  religion. 
Much  wonderful,  and  hitherto  hidden,  informa- 
tion respecting  religion,  is  brought  to  light  in 
them.  Various  religious  errors  are  detected  and 
exposed,  various  religious  truths  too  are  mani- 
fested, recommended  and  confirmed.  The  minis- 
ters of  religion,  therefore,  must  needs  feel  them- 
selves particularly  interested  in,  and  in  duty 
bound  to  a  careful  and  candid  examination  of, 
these  writings,  and  of  the  ground  and  reasonable- 
ness of  those  high  titles  by  which  they  are  an- 
nounced to  the  public. 

"And  as  such  examination  implies  at  least  pe- 
rusal, serious  attention,  candor  and  impartiality 
of  judgment,  the  exercise  of  these  virtues  will  also 
be  expected  from  you.  To  condemn,  therefore, 
or  approve  blindly;  to  suffer  your  judgment  to  be 
influenced  by  popular  prejudice,  or  to  be  deter- 
mined by  the  sentiments  of  others  rather  than  by 
your  own  ;  to  be  deterred  from  engaging  in  a  de- 


At  the  Confessional.  141 

liberate  and  equitable  inquiry,  because  you  have 
heard  the  author  vilified,  and  his  works  stigma- 
tized by  those  who  perhaps  never  read  them,  o> 
who  have  an  interest  in  condemning  them ;  all  this 
would  be  criminal  in  you,  and  expose  you  to  the 
censure  of  all  wise  and  discerning  men,  and  espe- 
cially of  your  own  consciences  at  that  hour  when 
you  appear  in  private  before  the  Maker  of  hearts 
and  the  Inspector  of  secret  purposes. 

"Let  it  be  supposed  for  a  moment,  that  you 
had  lived  in  Judea  at  the  time  when  the  incarnate 
Word  appeared  there  to  give  light  to  them  who  sat 
in  darkness ;  and  that  your  names  at  this  interest- 
ing period  had  been  enrolled  in  the  Jewish  priest- 
hood :  It  is  very  plain  that  under  these  circum- 
stances your  duty  would  have  called  you  to  form 
a  judgment  of  that  wonderful  person,  his  preten- 
sions and  his  doctrine.  But  in  forming  this  judg- 
ment, would  you  have  thought  it  sufficient  to 
hearken  only  to  the  voice  of  the  multitude?  Some 
said  he  is  a  good  man,  and  that  never  man  spake 
like  him  ;  others  said  nay,  but  he  deceiveth  the  peo- 
ple ;  he  has  a  devil  and  is  mad,  why  hear  ye  him  f 
The  voice  of  the  multitude,  therefore,  was  divided, 


142  Episcopalianism 

and  might  have  led  you  right  or  led  you  wrong, 
according  as  you  received  your  report  from  this  or 
that  quarter.  But  would  you  have  thought  it  safe, 
or  prudent,  or  conscientious,  or  becoming  your 
characters  as  members  of  the  Sanhedrim,  entrusted 
with  the  oracles  of  God  and  the  interpretation  of 
prophecy  and  the  instruction  of  the  people,  and 
peculiarly  called  at  that  period  of  time  to  discover 
the  marks  of  Messiahship,  to  detect  false  pretend- 
ers, and  point  out  the  true  Christ — would  you,  I 
say,  have  thought  it  safe  and  equitable  under  these 
circumstances,  to  see  with  another's  eyes,  and  hear 
with  another's  ears,  instead  of  using  your  own? 
Would  you  not  rather  have  thought  it  your  duty, 
and  have  made  it  your  business,  to  see  and  hear 
the  wonderful  man  yourselves?  to  examine  his 
doctrines  and  pretensions  impartially?  to  acquaint 
yourselves  with  the  tenor  of  his  life  and  conversa- 
tion ?  to  remove  from  your  own  hearts  every  un- 
reasonable suspicion,  jealousy,  or  prejudice,  which 
might  pervert  your  judgment?  in  short,  so  to  con- 
sult, by  sincerity  and  purity  of  intention,  the  di- 
vine will  and  wisdom  in  yourselves,  that  you  might 


At  the  Confessional.  143 

know  of  the  doctrine  whether  it  were  of  God,  or 
whether  the  speaker  spake  of  himself? 


"  But  methinks  I  hear  you  urge,  as  a  final  and 
unanswerable  argument  against  acceding  to  the 
testimony  of  Swedenborg,  that  the  dispensation 
of  grace  and  truth  in  Jesus  Christ,  when  he  be- 
came incarnate  here  on  earth,  is  the  last  and 
crowning  dispensation  which  God  hath  to  offer 
unto  mankind ;  that  it  is  all-complete  and  all- 
sufficient  for  every  purpose  of  salvation,  being  the 
end  of  the  law  and  the  prophets,  and  containing 
so  full  and  perfect  a  revelation  of  the  will  of  the 
Creator  to  his  creatures,  as  to  sui>ersede  the 
necessity  of  any  further  dispensation ;  conse- 
quently no  further  dispensation  is  to  be  expected, 
and  nothing  is  required  of  the  ministers  of  the 
gospel  but  to  believe  in  and  preach  Jesus  Christ 
and  obedience  to  his  commandments,  which  will 
be  abundantly  comj)etent  to  secure  every  possible 
blessing  both  to  themselves  and  the  people  com- 
mitted to  their  care. — It  is  granted  :  The  dispen- 
sation of  grace  and  truth  in  Jesus  Christ  is  as  you 


1 44  Episcopalianism 

represent  it,  all-complete  and  all-sufficient ;  and  it 
will  assuredly  be  well  with  you  and  with  your 
people,  and  you  can  want  no  other  dispensation  to 
secure  your  eternal  happiness,  if  Jesus  Christ  be 
preached,  and  his  commandments  obeyed.  But 
let  me  ask,  is  this  the  case  ? 

"In  the  first  place,  is  Jesus  Christ  preached? 
Do  you  believe  on  him  yourselves  as  the  ONE  ONLY 
LORD  AND  GOD  of  Heaven  and  Earth,  and  do 
you  teach  your  people  so  to  believe  on  him  ?  Do 
you  acknowledge  the  FATHER  and  the  SON  to  be 
one  in  Him,  as  he  Himself  hath  taught?  and  that 
of  consequence  He  is  the  manifested  Jehovah,  the 
sole  Creator,  Redeemer,  and  Regenerator  of  man  ? 
Or  rather,  have  not  some  among  you  entirely 
rejected  this  your  God,  by  denying  his  Divinity? 
And  have  not  others  divided  this  one  only  Lord 
and  God  into  three,  making  one  God  of  the 
Father,  another  of  the  Son,  and  another  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  ?  Do  not  you  regard  JESUS  CHRIST 
either  as  a  mere  creature,  or  as  a  Divine  Person 
separate  from,  and  subordinate  to,  the  Father? 
Do  not  you  regard  the  Holy  Ghost  as  a  Person 
separate  from  both,  assigning  to  each  separately 


At  the  Confessional.  145 

distinct  attributes  and  offices?  Is  not  your  idea 
of  God  become  thus  altogether  confused  and  per- 
plexed, so  that  you  know  not  to  what  or  to  whom 
to  direct  your  worship,  sometimes  addressing 
yourselves  to  the  Father,  sometimes  to  the  Son, 
and  sometimes  to  the  Holy  Ghost ;  but  never  to 
Jesus  Christ  alone  as  the  one  only  God,  in  whose 
divine  person  the  sacred  Trinity  of  the  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost  is  contained?  And  is  not 
this  confusion  and  perplexity  in  your  ideas  of 
Jesus  Christ,  manifested  by  want  of  power  in 
your  public  preaching  and  ministry? 

"  I  repeat  it,  therefore,  again  ;  be  these  writings 
true  or  false;  be  their  authority  well  or  ill-founded ; 
be  they  from  the  Father  of  Lights,  or  from  the 
father  of  lies,  it  is  your  office  and  duty,  as 
ministers  of  the  truth,  to  examine  well  into  the 
nature  of  their  evidence,  and  the  degree  of 
credibility  which  is  due  to  them.  You  cannot 
possibly  excuse  yourselves  from  the  discharge  of 
this  duty.  A  regard  to  truth  and  the  interests  of 
religion  demands  it  of  you  ;  and  you  are  bound  to 

greater  caution  herein,  inasmuch  as  the  judgment 
IS  K 


1 46  Episcopalianism 

-you  form  will  not  affect  yourselves  only,  but  will 
affect  also  the  people  committed  to  your  care ;  so 
that  the  salvation  of  thousands  may  possibly  de- 
pend upon  your  decision  in  this  interesting  case. 
If  Swedenborg,  therefore,  be  a  heaven-taught 
scribe,  your  own  consciences  will  dictate  to  you  in 
a  more  powerful  language  than  that  of  any  human 
words,  how  you  ought  to  hear  what  he  teaches ; 
and  not  only  hear  him  yourselves,  but  also  make 
his  doctrines  known  to  others,  as  far  as  ability  is 
given.  And  if  he  be  a.  false  teacher  and  deceiver, 
you  are  still  equally  bound  to  discover  and  make 
known  the  fallacy  and  deceitfulness  by  which  he 
hath  already  begun  to  impose  upon  thousands, 
that  so  the  error  may  be  nipped  in  the  bud. 

"Many  prejudices,  it  must  be  acknowledged, 
arising  from  a  variety  of  sources,  at  present  stand 
in  the  way  to  oppose  in  your  minds  the  testimony 
of  the  honorable  author  here  presented  before  you. 
But,  let  me  ask,  what  teacher  of  truth,  whether 
ancient  or  modern,  religious  or  philosophical, 
hath  not  prejudice  opposed  ?  The  prophets  of  old, 
you  well  know,  were  each  of  them  in  their  turn, 
violently  assaulted  by  prejudice.  The  God  of 


At  the  Confessional.  147 

Truth  Himself,  when  manifested  in  the  flesh,  did 
not  escape  prejudice.  His  most  venerable  follow- 
ers in  all  ages,  after  the  example  of  their  Divine 
Master,  have  had  to  combat  with  the  same  un- 
reasonable adversary,  prejudice.  Prejudice,  too, 
has  had  the  boldness  to  oppose  the  conclusions 
of  a  sound  philosophy,  as  well  as  of  a  sound 
theology;  and  you  need  not  be  informed  that, 
had  the  voice  of  prejudice  prevailed,  the  brightest 
discoveries  of  the  most  able  philosopher  that  ever 
contemplated  the  works  of  the  God  of  nature,  had 
still  laid  buried  in  obscurity. 

"I  wish  only  further  to  observe  on  the  subject, 
that  it  is  impossible  for  you  to  read  many  pages  of 
the  writings  in  question,  seriously,  and  in  a  Chris- 
tian spirit,  without  discovering  some  things  of 
importance,  which  must  needs  affect  every  well- 
disjx)sed  mind.  You  will  sec,  for  example,  the 
Divinity  of  the  Christian  Redeemer,  and  his  one- 
ness with  the  Father,  principally  insisted  upon, 
and  demonstrated  with  such  a  power  of  solid 
proof,  deduced  from  the  Sacred  Scriptures  in 
general,  as  will  supply  the  most  effectual  antidote 


148  Episcopalianism 

against  the  poisonous  tenets  of  modern  Arianism 
and  Socinianism.  You  will  see,  also,  the  sacred 
doctrine  of  the  HOLY  TRINITY  explained  and 
elucidated  in  a  manner  so  simple  and  yet  sublime, 
so  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God  and  at  the  same 
time  so  consonant  to  sound  reason,  so  satisfactory 
to  the  understanding  and  so  edifying  to  the  life, 
that  you  will  wonder  how  so  much  darkness  could 
ever  prevail  in  the  world  respecting  so  bright  and 
clear  a  truth ;  but  will  wonder  still  more,  that  now 
the  truth  is  discovered  in  its  brightness,  all  man- 
kind do  not  immediately  assent  to  and  rejoice  in 
it.  You  will  see,  likewise,  the  sanctity  of  t lie  Holy 
Scriptures  taught  and  explained,  and  the  hidden 
wisdom  thereof  opened  and  brought  to  light  by 
the  doctrine  of  correspondences,  with  such  a  full- 
ness of  conviction  as  will  at  the  same  time  both 
greatly  astonish  and  edify  you,  while  it  supplies 
an  internal evidence  of  the  Divinity  of  the  sacred 
Word,  and  particularly  of  the  Apocalyptic  part  of 
it,  infinitely  surpassing,  yet  not  overturning  but 
confirming,  all  its  external  evidence. 

"You  will  see,  further,  the  purest,  plainest,  and 
most  consistent  doctrine  of  life  presented  to  your 


At  the  Confessional.  149 

view,  and  contrasted  with  those  impure,  dark,  and 
inconsistent  tenets  which  are  at  this  day  so  fre- 
quently taught  and  circulated  under  the  venerable 
name  of  Christian  precepts.  And  here  you  will 
be  surprised  to  find  every  evil  of  life,  and  every 
error  of  doctrine,  detected  and  described,  which 
in  these  latter  times  threaten  the  very  existence  of 
religion  in  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth,  and  cause 
so  much  serious  alarm  in  the  minds  of  many  Chris- 
tians who  look  further  than  the  mere  skin  and  com- 
plexion of  the  Church  to  form  a  judgment  of  the 
soundness  of  its  constitution.  You  will  see,  also, 
pointed  out,  the  root  whence  such  anti-Christian 
evils  and  errors  have  sprung — how  they  have  all 
originated  in  mistaken  ideas  of  the  Divine  Being, 
his  nature  and  mode  of  existence  and  operation, 
and  in  the  consequent  separation  of  the  three  es- 
sentials of  Christian  life  and  salvation,  viz. :  char- 
ity, faith,  and  good  works.  And  while  you  lament 
the  unhappy  causes  and  consequences  of  such  an 
unscriptural  and  irrational  theology  which  you  will 
here  see  figuratively  depicted  under  the  significa- 
live  images  of  Dragon,  Beast,  false  Prophet,  and 

the  great  IWiore,  mentioned  in  the  Revelation,  you 

1.1  • 


150  Episcopalianism 

will  not  fail  to  rejoice  in  the  prospect  of  an  order 
of  pure  truth  and  doctrine  about  to  be  manifested 
from  Heaven  to  mankind,  signified  and  repre- 
sented by  the  Holy  City,  New  Jerusalem,  coming 
down  from  God  out  of  Heaven,  whereby  all  false, 
perverted  principles  of  faith  and  life  will  be  dissi- 
pated in  such  pure  minds  as  are  meet  for  its  recep- 
tion ;  and  the  understanding  be  enlightened,  the 
will  purified,  and  the  life  restored  to  the  order  of 
heaven,  a  near  and  blessed  conjunction  will  again 
take  place  between  the  Creator  and  his  creatures, 
predicted  and  described  in  these  words :  '  The 
tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men,  and  He  will  dwell 
with  them,  and  they  shall  be  his  people,  and  God 
himself  shall  be  with  them  their  God. ' 

"But  after  all,  it  is  not  the  testimony  of  fact  and 
experience  uniting  their  evidence  with  that  of  our 
author's  interpretation  of  prophecy;  neither  is  it 
the  brightness  and  power  of  divine  truth  discover- 
able in  such  interpretation ;  nor  yet  the  consist- 
ency, the  harmony,  the  clearness,  the  edifying 
tendency  of  every  page  of  his  Theological  Writ- 
ings, which  will  of  themselves  lead  to  conviction, 


At  the  Confessional.  151 

and  beget  a  full  persuasion  of  the  author's  faithful 
testimony  in  your  minds  or  in  the  minds  of  others. 
To  produce  this  happy  effect,  it  is  necessary  that 
the  reader's  understanding  be  previously  prepared, 
by  a  meet  disposition,  for  the  reception  of  truth; 
without  which  preparation  the  truth  itself,  let  it  be 
ever  so  much  confirmed,  must  needs  appear  untrue, 
and  the  more  so  in  proportion  to  the  unprepared 
state  of  the  mind  and  temper,  agreeable  to  the 
declaration  of  the  TRUTH  ITSELF,  '  He  who  doeth 
evil  hateth  the  light,  neither  cometh  to  the  light,  lest 
his  deeds  should  be  reproved. ' 

"  If  this  consideration  is  permitted  to  have  its 
due  influence,  it  will  doubtless  lead  you,  and  every 
reader  of  the  writings  in  question,  to  attend  well 
to  the  spirit  and  disposition  in  which  you  read, 
from  a  prudent  and  profitable  suspicion  that  some- 
thing may  l>e  wrong  in  the  state  of  the  person's 
mind  who  reads,  as  well  as  in  the  matter  of  the 
book  which  he  reads;  and  that  it  is  not  always  the 
fault  of  an  author  that  his  works  are  not  generally 
received  and  approved.  You  will,  therefore, 
begin,  like  pure  lovers  of  the  truth,  before  you 
read,  to  remove  from  your  hearts  all  those  unrea- 


152  Episcopalianism 

sonable  prejudices  and  partialities  which  might 
tend  to  blind  your  eyes  and  pervert  your  judg- 
ments. You  will  recollect  our  Lord's  words 
where  he  saith,  1 1  thank  the e,  O  Father,  Lord  of 
Heaven  and  Earth,  because  thou  hast  hid  these 
things  from  the  wise  and  prudent,  and  hast  revealed 
them  unto  babes ;'  and  with  these  words  in  your 
remembrance,  you  will  see  the  expediency  of  put- 
ting away  from  you  all  that  mere  worldly  wisdom 
and  prudence  which  they  condemn  as  tending  to 
hide  the  things  of  God,  and  the  equal  necessity 
of  cherishing  that  child-like  and  simple  temper  of 
mind  to  which  alone  the  things  of  God  ever  have 
been  and  ever  will  be  made  manifest.  You  will 
be  taught,  also,  by  the  same  divine  words,  in  your 
examination  of  truth,  not  to  place  an  ill-grounded 
dependence  on  any  attainments  of  mere  human 
science,  or  any  natural  talents  or  intellectual  abili- 
ties you  may  possess;  knowing  that  such  advan- 
tages, unless  under  the  guidance  of  a  humble 
and  teachable  spirit,  have,  in  all  ages  of  the 
Church,  excited  the  bitterest  persecution  against 
the  truth  of  God,  insomuch  that  when  this  Truth 
appeared  on  earth  in  Person,  the  cry  of  Crucify 


At  the  Confessional.  153 

//////,  crucify  him,  was  principally  at  the  instigation 
of  learned  critics,  deep-read  scholars,  admired 
orators,  inquisitive  philosophers,  and  especially 
of  what  were  deemed  at  the  time  able  expositors 
of  the  Divine  Oracles.  You  will  be  further  cau- 
tioned by  the  above  words,  in  your  examination 
of  truth,  against  that  servile  attachment  to  great 
names,  and  the  influence  of  human  authorities, 
which  is  ever  suggesting  the  old  question,  Have 
any  of  the  rulers  beliei'ed  on  him  ?  And  remem- 
bering that  rulers  may  be  deceived,  and  have  been 
deceived,  as  well  as  other  j)eople,  yea,  and  are 
frequently  more  exposed  to  deception,  as  being 
more  exposed  to  the  temptations  arising  from  an 
overweening  conceit  of  their  own  wisdom  and  pru- 
dence, you  will  assert  the  freedom  of  thinking  and 
judging  for  yourselves  in  that  which  so  essentially 
concerns  yourselves;  and  will  be  bold,  in  the  pur- 
suit of  truth,  not  only  to  oppose  all  motives  of 
worldly  interest  and  honor,  but  even  the  most 
respectable  powers  and  authorities  amongst  men, 
whensoever  they  stand  in  competition  with  the 
higher  power  and  authority  of  that  wisdom  which 
is  from  above. 


154  Episcopalianism 

"  Commending  you  to  the  guidance  of  this  wis- 
dom in  all  things,  and  sincerely  wishing  you  in  pos- 
session of  all  its  comforts,  I  remain,  with  all  possi- 
ble veneration  for  your  sacred  office  and  character, 
"  Your  affectionate  Brother  and  Fellow-laborer  in 

the  Gospel  of  JESUS  CHRIST,  to  whom  be  Glory 

and  Dominion  in  all  Ages, 

"JOHN  CLOWES." 

Such  is  the  unbiased  testimony  of  a  minister 
of  the  .Church  of  England,  to  the  truth  and  value 
of  Swedenborg's  writings; — the  testimony,  too, 
not  of  an  ignorant  or  prejudiced  man,  but  of  one 
who  had  acquainted  himself  with  these  writings 
by  patient  and  thorough  study  of  them,  who  was 
declared  to  be  "  an  exemplary  pattern  of  all  holy 
living,"  having,  we  are  assured,  "enjoyed  in  a 
singular  degree  through  life  the  respect  and  affec- 
tion of  all  who  knew  him."  Such  the  confession 
of  a  singularly  wise  and  good  man,  as  to  the  rela- 
tive truth  and  beauty  of  that  system  of  theology 
contained  in  the  writings  of  Swedenborg,  and  that 
commonly  taught  and  accepted  by  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church. 


At  the  Confessional.  155 

Similar  confessions  have  been  made  by  other 
ministers  of  the  Church  of  England,  who  have 
read  Swedenborg  with  sufficient  care  and  candor 
to  be  able  to  form  a  correct  judgment  of  his 
writings. 

I  have  already  referred  to  Rev.  Mr.  Gorman, 
whose  recent  work  on  "  The  Athanasian  Creed," 
gives  abundant  evidence  not  only  of  his  familiarity 
with  the  writings  of  Swedenborg,  but  of  his  cor- 
dial acceptance  of  their  teachings  on  every  essen- 
tial point  of  Christian  doctrine.  Listen  to  the 
following  confessions  of  this  writer,  in  addition  to 
those  already  quoted : 

"  From  the  time  of  the  Council  of  Nice  to  the 
present  hour,  the  Church,  in  a  doctrinal  point  of 
view,  has  reeled  to  and  fro  like  a  drunken  man 
between  one  or  the  other  of  the  Protean  modi- 
fications of  Tritheism  and  Arianism." — The  Atha- 
nasian  Creed  and  Modern  Thought. — Preface, 
p.  xx. 

The  time  here  alluded  to,  is  the  very  point 
>\-here  Swedenborg  says  the  corruptions  and  de- 
cline of  the  Christian  church  commenced,  and 
in  consequence  of  the  great  fundamental  falsity 


156  Episcopalianism 

decreed  by  the  Council  of  Bishops  then  assembled. 
To  cite  his  own  language : 

"  In  order  to  overthrow  the  pernicious  error  of 
Arius,  it  was  framed,  decided  upon  and  ratified  by 
the  members  of  that  Council  [to  wit :  of  Nice, 
assembled  A.D.,  325]  that  three  Divine  Persons, 
Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost,  existed  from  eter- 
nity, to  each  of  whom  belonged  personality,  exist- 
ence and  subsistence,  in  and  of  Himself.  .  .  . 
From  that  time  numerous  abominable  heresies 
respecting  God  and  the  person  of  Christ  began 
to  spring  up,  and  Antichrists  began  to  lift  up  their 
heads,  to  divide  God  into  three  Persons,  and  the 
Lord  the  Saviour  into  two,  and  so  to  destroy  the 
temple  built  by  the  Lord  through  the  Apostles ; 
and  this  until  not  one  stone  was  left  upon  another 
that  was  not  thrown  down,  according  to  the  Lord's 
words  in  Matthew  xxiv.  2,  where  by  the  temple 
is  meant  not  alone  that  at  Jerusalem,  but  also  the 
church,  the  consummation  or  end  of  which  is 
treated  of  in  that  whole  chapter." — True  Christian 
Religion,  n.  174. 

Again,  says  Mr.  Gorman  : 

"  There  is  [in  the  Church]  on  the  one  hand  a 


At  the  Confessional.  157 

desolating  Tritheism,  and  the  phantasms  to  which 
it  necessarily  gives  origin  ;  and  on  the  other  a 
naturalistic  Atheism,  the  subtle  poison  of  which 
induces  on  the  mind  into  which  it  finds  an  en- 
trance, stupefaction  and  torpor  touching  things 
intellectual  and  spiritual."  p.  113. 

And  again,  protesting  against  the  commonly- 
received  doctrine  of  Tripersonality  as  taught  and 
accepted  in  the  Church  of  England,  he  says: 

"The  Father  is/« — not  out  of—  the  Lord.  The 
Ix>rd  and  the  Father  are  thus  ONE  BEING,  there- 
fore, ONE  PERSON,  in  the  strict  and  proper  sense 
of  the  term.  The  so-called  'hypostatic  union*  of 
two  'natures'  is  a  human  scholastic  figment,  which 
has  no  authority  from  God's  Word  ;  but  on  the 
contrary,  in  so  far  as  theologians  have  succeed- 
ed in  explaining  what  they  mean  by  it,  is  mani- 
festly repugnant  to  Holy  Scripture  and  right  rea- 
son. 

"  It  is  to  be  noted,  moreover,  that  the  idea  of 
three  distinct  'Persons'  constituting  the  Divine 
Being  (as  commonly  understood),  and  the  idea 
of  one  God,  cannot  possibly  co-exist  in  the  same 

mind.     The  one  of  necessity  expels  the  other. 
u 


158  Episcopalianism 

If  the  lips  confess  one,  the  mind  is  nevertheless 
thinking  of  three.  .  .  . 

"The  quarter  whence  danger  to  the  welfare  of 
Christianity  is  most  to  be  apprehended,  the  spe- 
cial form  of  deadly  error  which  now  threatens  the 
Church  of  England,  is  that  which  pertains  to  this 
doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Divine-Human  Person.  .  .  . 
Events  are  rapidly  hastening  the  solemn  public 
discussion  of  the  Arian  or  Socinian  hypothesis. 
Is  the  Church  prepared  to  enter  upon  a  work  so 
arduous  and  momentous  ? 

"Such  a  discussion  involves  a  reconsideration 
of  the  First  Principles  of  Christian  Theology. 
The  success  of  Socinianism  will  be,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  the  utter  ruin  of  the  Church.  For  that 
hypothesis  contradicts  the  central  fact  of  the  con- 
ception of  the  Lord's  Humanity  from  the  very 
and  essential  Divinity  itself.  It  contradicts  the 
philosophical  truth,  that  the  body  of  every  man  is 
the  effigies  of  its  own  proper  soul,  and  of  none 
other.  It  contradicts  the  fact  of  our  Lord's  resur- 
rection with  his  entire  body,  in  a  manner  different 
from  that  of  all  other  men.  It  leaves  out  of  view 
what  was  actually  revealed — much  more  what  was 


'At  the  Confessional.  159 

invoked — in  that  wondrous  revelation  on  the 
Mount  of  Transfiguration,  when  the  Lord's  face 
shone  on  the  opened  spiritual  eyes  of  his  disciples 
as  with  all  the  splendor  of  the  noonday  sun.  .  .  . 
It  is  incompatible  with  obedience  to  the  precept 
that  faith  is  to  be  directed  to  HIM  in  his  Human- 
ity as  its  only  intelligible  object.  It  denies  the 
truth  that  He  is  one  with  the  Father.  It  knows 
nothing  of  his  glorification,  in  a  transcendent  Di- 
vine sense.  It  denies  that  He  possesses  all  power 
in  heaven  and  on  earth.  It  altogether  ignores  the 
primary  truth  of  all  Revelation — that  in  all  his  re- 
lations toward  man  the  Lord  is  essentially  Infinite, 
Eternal,  Divine.  It  thus  implies  the  destruction 
of  all  Scriptural  spiritual  theology.  It  completely 
closes  the  inner  understanding;  and  by  so  doing, 
enables  those  who  adopt  it  thoroughly,  'to  read 
the  Bible  like  any  other  book '  with  an  accuracy 
fatal  to  all  spiritual  discernment. 

"  This  idea,  then,  of  the  Lord  God  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ  as  a  Divine-Human  Person  [an  idea 
everywhere  prominent  in  the  writings  of  Sweden- 
borg],  is  pre-eminently  the  noblest,  the  purest, 
the  most  exalted,  the  most  influential  for  good, 


1 60  Episcopalianism 

that  the  human  mind  by  its  highest  reach  can  ever 
conceive.  It  conjoins,  really  and  consciously,  the 
Infinite  and  the  finite,  the  Creator  and  the  crea- 
ture, as  the  ray  of  light  connects  the  eye  with  the 
sun.  It  serves  to  lift,  in  part,  the  veil  of  that  inner 
world  which  has  been  so  fully  revealed,  and  yet  so 
dimly  discerned  in  Holy  Scripture."  pp.  160-162. 
But  does  Episcopalianism  embrace  this  idea? 
Does  it  anywhere  recognize  or  teach  it? 

Another  minister  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  Rev.  Edwin  Paxton  Hood,  the  author 
of  several  interesting  works,  published  a  book  in 
London  not  many  years  ago,  entitled  "Sweden- 
borg :  A  Biography  and  an  Exposition."  The 
work  was  written  purely  in  the  interests  of  truth 
and  true  religion.  To  a  friend  (so  he  tells  us  in 
the  Preface  to  this  work)  who,  hearing  that  he 
was  writing  such  a  book,  said  to  him,  "Then  of 
course  you  are  a  Swedenborgian,"  he  replies:  "I 
am  no  more  a  Swedenborgian  than  I  am  a  Bun- 
yanist,  a  Howeist,  a  Bernardite,  a  Franciscan,  a 
Moreist,  a  Behmenite,  or  a  Lawite.  The  sayings 
and  thoughts  of  all  great  and  true  men  are  precious 


At  the  Confessional.  161 

to  me ;  and  I  hope  I  can  both  receive  them  and 
retail  them  without  parting  with  myself." 

Mr.  Hood  may,  therefore,  be  regarded  as  an 
eminently  independent  witness  in  this  case.  He 
knows  what  Episcopalianism  is,  and  could  have 
had  no  conceivable  motive  in  misrepresenting  or 
disparaging  any  of  its  beliefs  or  teachings.  He 
has  also  read  Swedenborg  enough  to  pretty  thor- 
oughly master  his  system  of  spiritual  philosophy, 
or  at  least  to  know  what  he  teaches  on  all  doc- 
trines of  vital  importance.  What  says  this  wit- 
ness?— himself  a  minister  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. I  shall  give  his  confessions  on  a  few  points 
only.  Hear,  first,  his  testimony  to  Swedenborg's 
perfect  sanity  —  for  Bishop  Burgess  pronounces 
him  a  "monomaniac,"  and  his  theological  sys- 
tem, therefore,  "one  vast,  utter  delusion." 

"  Sanity  is  the  clue  exercise  of  our  whole  man- 
hood— body,  mind,  and  spirit — the  frame,  the 
intellect,  and  the  will  or  affections ;  and  it  is  ob- 
vious that  this  high  sanity  can  only  be  in  a  state 
where  sin,  the  great  disjointer  and  deranger  of 
humanity — sin,  which  is  insanity,  is  excluded. 
But  if  we  look  at  Swedenborg's  career,  we  find  all 
14  •  L 


1 6  2  Episeopalianism 

his  life  balanced  and  harmonized.  If  ever  there 
lived  a  man  who  might  claim  to  present  to  the 
world  a  completed  being,  he  was  the  man."  p. 
162. 

Of  the  Athanasian  Creed  as  set  forth  in  the 
Church  of  England's  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
Mr.  Hood  says : 

"  The  Athanasian  Creed  is  a  most  astonishing 
affair.  .  .  .  We  have  ever  been  amazed  at  the 
boundless  arrogance — the  haughty,  awful  impu- 
dence of  the  thing — that  any  man  should  dare  to 
say  on  so  dark  a  subject  so  much  more  than  God 
himself  has  said  ;  should  so,  from  the  finite  stand- 
point, close  up  and  moat  round  the  avenues  of 
Infinite  mercy  and  Infinite  personality.  Truly  we 
may  be  very  tender  on  such  matters,  but  we  can- 
not read  it  without  a  shudder ;  it  is  the  embodi- 
ment of  a  faith  working  without  love  [i.  e.  faith 
alone] — a  faith  singing  hollow  words,  rattling  like 
the  bones  of  a  skeleton,  without  a  heart.  The 
Athanasian  Creed  is  the  feudal  keep  of  Theology; 
it  bristles  from  all  its  turrets  with  cruel  spear- 
points  ;  every  word  grins  like  an  opening  man- 
chicolation  ;  in  it  God  no  longer  looks  like  the 


At  the  Confessional.  \  63 

Father — Christ  no  longer  looks  like  the  Saviour — 
the  Spirit  no  longer  looks  like  the  Comforter;  it 
repels — it  does  not  invite — like  a  stern  old  battle- 
ment of  the  Middle  Ages;  it  is  lonely  and  di- 
vorced from  sympathy ;  it  is  so  cleverly  con- 
structed— that  castle  of  words — that  it  probably 
contains  nothing  that  any  sincere  Christian  in  fact 
doubts,  and  yet,  perhaps,  not  one  in  a  million  of 
all  the  saved  could  understand  it — that  Athanasian 
Creed  ;  and  it  contains  within  it  dungeons,  racks, 
blocks,  and  stakes.  It  is  a  ruin,  however;  it  has 
done  something  to  bring  indignation  on  the  idea 
of  creeds  at  all.  It  is  a  tower  with  the  drawbridge 
ever  up;  claiming  to  be  the  wicket  gate  of  Chris- 
tianity." p.  249. 

Then  he  comes  to  some  of  the  central  doctrines 
of  Christianity  ;  and  here  we  have  his  confession 
touching  both  the  Old  and  the  New — or  the  Epis- 
copalian and  the  Swedenborgian  view  : 

"  But  it  is  now  necessary  that  we  direct  some 
attention  to  those  views  of  the  Divine  Being  and 
character  which  more  especially  belong  to  the 
province  of  Revelation,  as  unfolded  in  the  pages 
of  Swedenborg.  .  .  .  Oh,  if  men  would  but  form 


1 64  Episcopalianism 

their  ideas  of  God  from  his  Word  for  themselves, 
rather  than  on  those  darkening  and  blackened 
glosses  by  which,  from  age  to  age,  even  the  best 
men  have  sought  to  obscure,  or,  seeking  to  make 
clear,  have  really  obscured,  the  Divine  Being. 

"Thus  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  has,  to  our 
thought,  been  purposely  and  intentionally  sur- 
rounded by  obscurity.  We  have  been  angry  with 
any  effort  made  to  roll  away  the  clouds,  and  to 
present  it  as  in  truth  it  is  in  Scripture — plain,  in- 
telligible, rational,  necessary.  .  .  . 

"Are  we  Polytheists?  At  least,  are  we  Trithe- 
ists?  .  .  .  Do  Trinitarians  think  of  Three  Gods? 
Is  there  not  in  much  of  our  Christian  worship  as 
gross  a  Tripersonality  as  in  Grecian  mythology,  or 
in  the  Brahma,  Vishnu,  and  Siva  of  Hindoo  pagan- 
ism ?  And  have  we  not  often  noticed  that  in  most 
of  our  prayers  we  do  not  treat  the  Personalities  as 
equal  ?  Our  prayer  to  God  the  Father,  is  as  to  a 
person  quite  distinct  from  and  superior  to  the  Son. 
We  do  not  often  in  prayer  address  the  Son  at  all. 
...  It  may  be  doubted  whether  we  do  not  often 
use  language  we  do  not  understand,  when  we  speak 
of  Christ  as  '  the  gift  of  God.'  When  we  implore 


At  the  Confessional.  165 

Christ  to  intercede  with  the  Father  for  us,  we  do 
in  these  phrases  show  that  we  entertain  a  sense  of 
the  inferiority  of  the  second  adorable  Person ;  and 
it  is  the  inevitable  consequence  of  our  teaching 
that  it  should  be  so."  p.  251. 

Then  he  proceeds  to  give  Swedenborg's  doc- 
trine on  this  subject,  with  evident  satisfaction  and 
approval. 

"Swedenborg  devoutly  believed  in  the  Doctrine 
of  the  Trinity — not  in  three  Gods,  but  in  one 
God.  .  .  .  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is,  with  the 
Father  and  the  Spirit,  the  One  only  True  God. 
This  is  Swedenborg's  great  Faith."  pp.  251,  252. 

Again  he  says : 

"  It  was  Swedenborg's  idea  of  the  Trinity,  that 
it  existed  in  one,  as  the  Will,  Understanding,  and 
Energy — as  Cause,  Manifestation,  and  Operation; 
and  this  is  plain,  however  difficult  any  opposite 
method  of  interpretation  may  be.  The  Unity  of 
the  Godhead  is  a  doctrine  so  dear  to  Christian 
minds — the  Trinity  has  so  often  proved  a  stum- 
bling-block to  young  believers,  and  a  ground  of 
contempt  to  sneering  skeptics,  that  every  one 
must  hail  a  solution  that  may  at  once  retain  the 


i66  Episcopalianism 

grandeur  and  the  intention  of  the  mystery,  and 
yet  make  it  more  plain  to  the  understanding.  We 
would  be  the  last  to  reject  Revelation  on  account 
of  its  mysteries :  .  .  .  but  it  would  be  madness  to 
prefer  the  mystery  to  the  sunlight,  when  the  one 
streams  through  the  heart  and  region  of  the  other." 

P-  257- 

Mr.  Hood  then  passes  on  to  another  central 
doctrine  of  Christianity — "the  great  fact  in  hu- 
man history  called  Regeneration."  And  the  fol- 
lowing is  his  confession  on  the  subject : 

"The  new  birth  is  the  everlasting  puzzle,  and 
the  occasion  of  everlasting  sneers  and  contempt  to 
almost  all  persons  who  have  not  known  the  great 
change — the  birth  out  of  Nature  and  above  Na- 
ture— the  birth,  of  which  the  birth  and  life  of 
Jesus  was  a  type  and  an  illustration.  .  .  .  Sweden- 
borg  maintains  the  reality  of  this  new  birth.  It 
is  [as  he  explains  it]  just  what  it  is  by  Jesus  Christ 
declared  to  be;  it  is  the  birth  of  a  new  manhood 
beneath  the  old ;  it  is  the  ingermination  of  the 
divine  Spirit  of  all  Truth  by  its  Author  and  Foun- 
tain ;  it  is  the  inflowing  of  a  new  life,  or  life  in  a 
new  degree  and  in  new  manifestation.  This  is 


At  the  Confessional.  167 

the  new  birth — one  of  the  most  clear,  beautiful, 
rational  doctrines  of  our  holy  faith,  in  spite  of  all 
that  superstition  has  done  to  encumber  it  with 
falsehoods;  in  spite  of  all  that  infidelity  has  done 
to  bring  it  into  odium,  derision  and  contempt.  .  .  . 

"Regeneration  in  the  sense  of  our  writer,  is  not 
a  work  of  faith.  Faith  may  be  operative  in  pro- 
ducing it;  but  it  alone  can  no  more  produce  the 
New  Birth,  than  the  solving  of  a  mathematical 
problem  can  create  a  planet ;  neither  is  it  merely 
that  change  of  life  which  may  result  from  change 
of  ideas  and  impressions,  and  from  enlarged  intel- 
ligence. .  .  .  Regeneration  itself,  in  the  estima- 
tion of  many  writers  and  speakers,  is  not  so  much 
a  fact  as  a  shadowy  and  mythic  event  in  human 
history.  The  reality  has  not  been  felt  as  Sweden- 
denborg  felt  it,  by  most  writers.  It  has  been  the 
doubtful  land  of  Theologic  opinion  perpetually 
insisted  on,  and  yet  in  few  instances  comparatively 
really  realized."  p.  259. 

And  then  he  quotes,  with  manifest  approval, 
two  or  three  pages  on  the  subject  from  Sweden- 
borg's  "True  Christian  Religion." 

Hear  Mr.  Hood's  testimony  in  regard  also  to 


1 68  Episcopalianism 

the  written  Word.  He  has  a  chapter  on  "  Sacred 
Hieroglyphics"  which  he  introduces  with  a  legend 
called  "the  mysterious  lock,"  whose  "applica- 
tion" he  says,  "is  obvious."  According  to  the 
legend,  there  was  once  discovered  on  the  plains 
of  Arabia,  a  Building  of  colossal  size  and  grand- 
eur, containing  innumerable  halls,  galleries,  and 
chambers  filled  with  all  beautiful  and  precious 
things.  No  one  could  enter  that  Building  and 
thread  its  delightful  but  intricate  mazes,  without 
the  Plan  which  lay  in  a  golden  Chest  or  Ark 
guarded  by  a  mysterious  Lock.  And  thus  the 
legend  ran  : — 

"What  Key  would  fit  those  wonderful  wards? 
The  Architect  alone  could  give  the  Key.  He  had 
placed  the  plan  and  inventory  within  the  golden 
Ark,  reserving  thus  his  own  right  over  his  own 
Building.  But  the  ambition  of  mankind  set  to 
work  to  construct  keys  innumerable ;  still  the  lock 
would  not  move.  One  bold  and  daring  race, 
unable  to  find  the  key,  sought  to  break  open  the 
Ark ;  they  hammered  on  its  sacred  cornices  of 
gold,  from  whence  indignant  lightnings  shone 
and  flashed ;  they  beat  upon  the  lock  and  sought 


At  the  Confessional.  169 

to  prize  it,  but  it  would  not  yield  ;  and  then  as  a 
last  resource,  they  sought  to  steal  the  golden 
Chest,  boasting  that,  as  they  had  it  in  their  pos- 
session, the  whole  of  the  Pyramid  Palace  must  be 
theirs ;  and  they  covered  it  with  their  black  cloaks 
and  albs,  and  ran  away  believing  they  had  it; 
but  to  this  day  unmoved  and  uninjured  it  lies  in 
the  centre  of  the  Palace,  and  very  amazing  indeed 
it  is  to  see  certain  of  the  robber  race  strutting 
through  the  outcourts  of  the  Building,  boasting, 
as  they  point  to  its  walls,  that  it  is  all  theirs.  .  .  . 

"Alas  for  us!  We  all  know  the  Building — we 
have  all  walked  through  many  parts  of  it.  But 
who  will  find  for  us  the  sacred  Key? — for  it  is 
said  that  when  the  Key  shall  be  found,  and  the 
finder  shall  walk  through  the  Palace  with  the  Plan, 
every  lamp,  self-lighted,  will  blaze  around  the 
splendid  rooms ;  the  gates  and  pillars  of  precious 
stones — the  Arabesques  and  Mosaics — will  inter- 
fold  and  flash  to  and  fro  like  living  rainbows.  .  .  . 
Oh  that  one  would  give  us  the  Key  !"  pp.  367, 
368. 

And  this  writer  believes  that  the  great  Archi- 
tect has  given  to  Swedenborg  the  Key  to  the 

15 


1 70  Episcopalianism 

sublime  mysteries  of  the  Word — to  its  deep 
spiritual  meaning.  He  says : 

"The  Bible  is  written  from  Appearances  and 
from  Correspondences.  How  can  the  Book  be  at 
all  understood  unless  this  be  considered  ?  But  in 
order  that  there  may  be  some  attempt  at  solution, 
let  us  attempt  the  analysis  of  the  doctrine  of  cer- 
tain Correspondences.  We  believe  it  will  be 
found  that,  after  a  little  study  in  reading  the  Scrip- 
tures, we  shall  learn  to  think  not  from  the  expres- 
sions, but  from  the  hidden  significations.  Swe- 
denborg  removes  the  veil ;  and  truly  wonderful  it 
is  to  find  how,  by  this  principle  of  interpretation, 
the  most  opposite  passages  of  the  Sacred  Book  are 
found  to  have  consistency  and  coherence;  the 
mind  of  the  Book  becomes  more  plain  and  clear. 
As  it  is,  the  unenlightened  mind  is  compelled,  in 
'hearing,  to  hear  and  not  to  understand,'  and  in 
'  seeing,  to  see  and  not  perceive. '  What  is  the 
greater  part  of  the  Sacred  Writings  to  most  minds, 
but  a  tone — a  sound  without  a  meaning  or  a 
sense?"  p.  369. 

"You  may  denounce  Swedenborg  as  a  fanatic, 
a  dreamer,  a  mystic ;  but  at  any  rate  you  must 


At  the  Confessional.  171 

have  his  sacred  piety  and  exalted  aspirations  in 
some  homage,  before  whom  the  priest's  Breast- 
plate, ihe  Tabernacle  in  the  wilderness,  the 
magnificence  of  Solomon's  Temple,  gleam  out 
with  meaning  as  well  as  lustre,  receiving  and  re- 
flecting light  from  the  parables  of  our  Lord,  the 
harp  of  prophecy,  and  the  city  of  the  New  Jeru- 
salem with  its  twelve  manner  of  stones."  p.  382. 

"Why  did  the  Holy  Spirit  speak  to  man  by 
images? — to  perplex,  to  baffle,  to  confound? 
Surely  not ;  but  that  the  words  might  be  seen  to 
contain,  as  in  an  Ark,  things  more  sacred  than 
words  alone  can  reveal."  p.  385. 

"  Scripture  has  a  literal  writing  and  significa- 
tion all  may  read — all  may  understand ;  and  it  is 
sufficient  for  the  salvation  and  understanding  of 
all.  But  there  is  a  hidden  writing — a  name  like 
that  upon  the  '  white  stone,1  '  which  none  may 
read  but  those  to  whom  it  is  given.'  The  Saviour 
in  his  words  and  parables  declared  this ;  it  is  the 
principle  of  the  old  Jewish  services;  it  is  the 
principle  of  Prophetic  Writing;  it  is  adopted  by 
our  Lord  in  his  discourses,  and  evidently  indicated 
in  his  miracles ;  and  the  canon  of  Scripture  closes 


172  Episcopalianism 

with  a  most  wonderful  illustration  of  it.  It  is  a 
hand-writing  we  partly  know.  Why  should  we 
not  accept  any  other  aid  which  may  yet  further 
elucidate  the  meaning  of  a  Book  which,  though 
it  speaks  plainly  and  clearly  the  words  on  which 
depends  our  eternal  life,  reserves  much  for  the 
consolation  of  those  who,  with  humble  hearts, 
seek  '  for  the  consolation  of  Israel.' 

"There  is  a  spirit  as  well  as  a  letter  in  the 
Word  of  Truth.  Have  we  not  occasion  to  fear 
that  our  attention  has  in  this  age  been  wholly  ab- 
sorbed in  the  letter,  until  we  have  in  fact  quite 
forgotten  in  many  instances  the  spirit?"  p.  384. 

Hear  also  this  writer's  confession  touching  the 
popular  view  of  the  nature  of  man,  of  the  resur- 
rection, of  the  value  of  what  is  called  psychologi- 
cal science,  and  the  light  that  Swedenborg  has 
thrown  upon  these  subjects : 

"No  other  writer  -has  so  distinctly  given  the 
negative  to  the  great  delusion  that  the  body  is  the 
man.  The  body  is  man's  house  ;  all  its  powers  and 
faculties  are  but  the  organs  of  the  soul ;  not  modes 
of  the  soul's  operation,  but  avenues  through  which 
it  acts,  and  by  which  alone  it  can  be  apprehended 


At  the  Confessional.  173 

or  at  all  known.  This  is  one  of  the  greatest  de- 
lusions man  has  to  encounter  and  conquer;  the 
connection  of  man  with  his  body  has  to  be  more 
clearly  known.  .  .  .  He  allows  his  senses  to 
impose  upon  him,  and  by  and  by  abandons 
altogether  the  thought  which  ought  perpetually  to 
be  his  consolation  and  his  life ;  namely,  that  his 
personality  stands  as  far  and  as  highly  dis- 
tinguished and  apart  from  his  body,  as  does  his 
body  from  the  house  in  which  for  a  time  /'/  has  its 
abode.  It  is  a  comforting  idea  that  our  mind  is 
the  master  and  the  tenant  of  the  deceased  and 
dying  house  of  mourning  and  of  clay."  p.  290. 

"  Psychology — the  doctrine  of  the  spirit  is  well 
named ;  but  often  it  has  happened  that  the  name 
has  been  the  best  part  of  the  study.  No  range  of 
thought  has  been  more  dreary  or  barren  than  this; 
none  has  been  more  frequently  converted  into  a 
mere  sciomachy  or  logomachy ;  spirit  has  had  but 
little  to  do  with  the  discussion.  The  professed 
Psychologists  all  weary  us.  Hpw  can  it  be  other- 
wise than  so  ?  They  compel  us  to  follow  over 
immense  deserts  of  arid  and  sandy  scientifics — the 
mirage  haunting  us,  and  beckoning  in  the  distance 


174  Episcopalianism 

a  promise  of  satisfaction.  '  Vain  wisdom  all,  and 
false  philosophy !'  The  mirage  fades  like  a  phan- 
tom ;  our  spirit  finds  no  rest  for  the  sole  of  its 
foot ;  'tis  a  weary  chase — through  cloud  and  star- 
land  with  Berkeley,  through  the  grim  dreary 
mountain  defiles  with  Hume,  through  the  dry 
hard  streets  of  every-day  life  with  Reid,  through 
the  rainbowed  chaos  of  Fichte  and  his  cotempo- 
raries ;  and  rest  assuredly  meets  us  nowhere. 
Truly  Psychology,  so  called,  has  not  introduced 
us  to  the  spirits ;  but  it  has  raised  a  score  of 
Frankenstein  monsters,  horrible  abortions,  who 
crush  us.  When  we  were  yet  young,  our  faith  was 
in  the  Bishop ;  he  set  the  spirit  free  from  matter, 
but  we  did  not  see  our  way  through  the  shapeless 
universe  of  which  he  flung  back  the  doors.  We 
recoiled  from  a  world  all  ideas ;  it  was  as  death- 
like as  a  world  all  matter.  Your  Psychological 
sciences  are  the  graves  of  faith,  or  the  very  inns 
of  infidelity. 

"...  All  the  essays  on  Psychology  we  ever 
heard  of,  never  introduced  us  to  one  spirit.  They 
were  a  rotting  chrysalis  without  the  butterfly." 
pp.  300,  301. 


At  the  Confessional.  175 

"But  Swedenborg  boldly  asserts  that  in  every 
particular  the  spirit  is  a  man  after  death  as  before; 
a  shape  cognizable,  with  emotions  and  passions, 
with  mental  powers  and  affections.  .  .  .  He  is  the 
only  writer  who  asserts  clearly,  so  far  as  we  have 
seen,  the  nexus  between  body  and  soul,  distinctly 
separating  and  yet  conjoining  them."  pp.  302,303. 

And  Mr.  Hood  closes  his  chapter  on  Homology 
and  Psychology  with  these  words  : 

"  The  reader,  we  trust,  will  now  see  the  charac- 
ter of  Swedenborg's  investigations  into  the  nature 
of  man ;  and  it  will  be  seen  that  while  his  con- 
ceptions are  definite  and  distinct,  they  conduct 
neither  to  the  vagaries  of  Hegel  or  Schelling,  nor 
the  cold  but  glittering  Pantheism  of  Fichte,  nor 
the  lofty  but  dizzy  opium  heights  of  Kant.  Let 
the  reader  acquaint  himself  with  his  books — 
grounding  himself  in  the  doctrines  and  thorough- 
ly understanding  them — he  will  then  stand  on  a 
ground  from  whence  he  may  obtain  a  knowledge 
and  ample  survey  of  the  opinions  of  other  men  ; 
and  he  will  find,  we  believe,  that  the  confidence 
and  repose  felt  from  these,  far  transcends  that 
which  arises  from  the  faith  in  any  other  system 


1 76  Episcopalianism 

of  mind.  It  is  a  faith  that  recompenses  for  the 
digging ;  and  that  is  saying  more  than  we  dare  to 
say  of  almost  any  system  that  has  challenged  our 
homage  in  modern  times."  p.  310. 

Other  ministers  of  the  Church  of  England  have 
made  similar  confessions  respecting  the  darkness 
and  confusion  of  the  old  Theology,  and  furnished 
similar  testimony  to  the  truth  and  beauty  of  the 
New.  I  will  make,  however,  but  one  more  extract ; 
and  that  shall  be  from  a  work  by  Rev.  Augustus 
Clissold,  a  learned  and  estimable  man  who  has 
written  some  ten  or  twelve  volumes  in  explanation 
and  defence  of  the  doctrines  and  philosophy  of 
the  New  Church.  Although  an  ordained  minister 
in  the  Episcopal  Church,  he  has  not,  I  under- 
stand, for  several  years  exercised  the  clerical  func- 
tion in  that  Church. 

About  thirty  years  ago  the  Archbishop  of  Dub- 
lin, in  his  "  Essays  on  some  of  the  peculiarities  of 
the  Christian  Religion," — himself  apparently  no 
better  informed  upon  the  subject  whereof  he  wrote, 
than  Bishop  Burgess  or  the  "Protestant  Episcopal 
Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Evangelical  Know- 
ledge,"— said  that  the  system  of  Swedenborg 


At  the  Confessional,  177 

"  furnishes  abundant  matter  of  faith  and  food  for 
curiosity,  but  has  little  or  no  intelligible  reference 
to  practice;"  and  that  one  who  believes  the  sys- 
tem is  not  called  upon  or  expected  "to  alter  either 
his  conduct,  his  motives,  or  his  moral  sentiments, 
in  consequence  of  such  belief."  Whereupon  Mr. 
Clissold  addressed  to  the  Archbishop  an  interest- 
ing Letter  upon  "The  Practical  Nature  of  the 
Doctrines  and  alleged  Revelations  contained  in 
the  writings  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg."  And  near 
the  close  of  his  letter  he  says : 

"  If  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  to  be  established 
within  us;  if  man  himself  is  designed  to  be  a 
heaven,  is  it  ministering  to  mere  curiosity,  is  it  in- 
dulging a  blind  credulity,  is  it  conveying  a  useless 
non-practical  instruction,  to  inculcate  right  ideas 
of  its  nature  ?  Surely  to  affirm  as  much,  would  be 
to  affirm  that,  to  instruct  a  man  in  that  which  he 
ought  to  be,  which  he  was  intended  to  be,  and  for 
which  alone  he  was  brought  into  the  world,  is  but 
wasting  the  time  of  the  teacher  and  the  taught  in 
unprofitable  questions. 

"  When  men  have  fallen  into  delusions  with  re- 
gard to  heaven  and    hell,  when  those  delusions 
M 


1 78  Episcopalianism 

pass  for  genuine  truth,  is  it  unworthy  of  the  mercy 
of  the  Lord  to  discover  these  errors  by  a  revela- 
tion of  the  nature  of  the  two  worlds  ?  For  heaven 
is  good  and  truth,  and  hell  is  evil  and  the  false ; 
and  to  reveal  the  nature  of  heaven  and  hell,  is  but 
to  reveal  the  nature  of  good  and  truth,  evil  and 
error. 

"The  evidence,  therefore,  on  which  we  are  in- 
vited to  receive  the  revelations  of  Swedenborg, 
with  regard  to  heaven  and  hell,  is  an  internal 
evidence;  it  is  that  of  our  moral  sense  of  the 
nature  of  good  and  evil.  Now  is  not  this  the 
highest  evidence  upon  which  it  is  possible  for  us 
to  receive  any  truth  whatever?  Mathematical 
demonstrations  are  addressed  only  to  the  lower 
powers  of  reason,  but  this  addresses  itself  to  our 
whole  being ;  nevertheless,  we  are  capable  of  at- 
taining to  this  evidence,  only  in  the  degree  in 
which  we  perceive  and  love  that  which  is  good, 
and  hate  that  which  is  evil. 

"If  then,  as  Christians,  our  moral  sense  of  good 
and  evil  be  derived  only  from  the  Word  of  God ; 
if  we  so  interpret  that  Word,  as  to  derive  from  it 
entirely  new  principles  of  life  and  conduct;  if  this 


At  the  Confessional.  179 

new  interpretation  form  the  principal  revelation 
of  Swedenborg ;  and  if  all  his  narratives,  with  re- 
gard to  heaven  and  hell,  be  founded  on  the  prin- 
ciples of  good  and  evil,  truth  and  error,  as  taught 
in  the  Word  of  God  thus  interpreted,  can  any- 
thing be  plainer  than  that,  so  far  from  its  being 
difficult  to  point  out  in  what  respect  Swedenborg's 
pretended  revelations  require  any  alteration  in  our 
conduct,  motives,  or  moral  sentiments,  the  diffi- 
culty lies  entirely  the  other  way?  And  if  so, 
what  can  be  more  clear  than  that  the  whole  of  the 
argument  in  the  Essays,  as  applied  to  the  writ- 
ings of  Swedenborg,  is  founded  upon  an  entire 
misapprehension  of  the  nature  of  his  principles?" 
pp.  207,  208. 

Such  are  the  confessions  of  some  of  the  purest 
and  best  minds — yes,  intelligent  and  highly-es- 
teemed ministers — in  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  touching  the  relative  beauty,  trustworthi- 
ness and  value  of  the  Old  and  the  New  Theology ; 
or,  if  you  please,  of  EPISCOPALIANISM  on  the  one 
hand  and  SWEDENBORGIANISM  on  the  other.  They 
are  all  of  them  competent  to  testify  in  this  case; 


1 80  EpiscopaKanism. 

for  they  are  all  well  instructed  in  both  the  Old 
and  the  New,  having  carefully  acquainted  them- 
selves with  both  systems.  And  there  is  certainly 
no  ground  for  suspecting  them  of  any  personal, 
party,  or  denominational  bias  in  favor  of  the  New. 
We  have  here  the  honest  testimony  of  enlightened 
and  unprejudiced  minds.  It  is  some  of  the  better 
portion  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  come 
to  the  Confessional.  And  it  is  a  sign  full  of 
promise.  It  proclaims  the  dreary  winter  well- 
nigh  past,  and  the  beautiful  spring-  or  summer- 
time of  the  Church  coming  on  apace. 

"Now  learn  a  parable  of  the  fig  tree.  When 
her  branch  is  yet  tender,  and  putteth  forth  leaves, 
ye  know  that  summer  is  near.  So  ye  in  like  man- 
ner, when  ye  shall  see  these  things  come  to  pass, 
know  that  it  is  nigh,  even  at  the  doors.  .  .  . 
Watch  ye,  therefore ;  for  ye  know  not  when  the 
Master  of  the  house  cometh — at  even,  or  at  mid- 
night, or  at  the  cock-crowing,  or  in  the  morning: 
Lest  coming  suddenly  He  find  you  sleeping.  And 
what  I  say  unto  you  I  say  unto  all,  Watch." 

THE    END. 


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